.GEORGE  WASHINGTON: 
FARMER  » 


\\ 


"The  aim  of  the  farmers  in  this  country  (if 
they  can  be  called  farmers )  is,  not  to  make  the 
most  they  can  from  the  land,  which  is  or  has 
been  cheap,  but  the  most  of  the  labour,  which 
is  dear;  the  consequence  of  which  has  been, 
much  ground  has  been  scratched  over  and  none 
cultivated  or  improved  as  it  ought  to  have  been: 
whereas  a  farmer  in  England,  where  land  is  dear, 
and  labour  cheap,  finds  it  his  interest  to  improve 
and  cultivate  highly,  that  he  may  reap  large 
crops  from  a  small  quantity  of  ground/' 

Washington  to  Arthur  Young,  December  5 ,  1791. 


335980 


PREFACE 

The  story  of  George  Washington's  public  career 
has  been  many  times  told  in  books  of  varying  worth, 
but  there  is  one  important  aspect  of  his  private  life 
that  has  never  received  the  attention  it  deserves.  The 
present  book  is  an  attempt  to  supply  this  deficiency. 

I  desire  to  acknowledge  gratefully  the  assistance 
I  have  received  from  Messrs.  Gaillard  Hunt  and  John 
C.  Fitzpatrick  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  Mr.  Hubert 
B.  Fuller  lately  of  Washington  and  now  of  Cleveland, 
Colonel  Harrison  H.  Dodge  and  other  officials  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  Association,  and  from  the  work  of 
Paul  Leicester  Ford,  Worthington  C.  Ford  and  John 
M.  Toner. 

Above  all,  in  common  with  my  countrymen,  I  am 
indebted  to  heroic  Ann  Pamelia  Cunningham,  to  whose 
devoted  labor,  despite  ill  health  and  manifold  dis 
couragements,  the  preservation  of  Mount  Vernon  is 
due.  To  her  we  should  be  grateful  for  a  shrine  that 
has  not  its  counterpart  in  the  world — a  holy  place  that 
no  man  can  visit  without  experiencing  an  uplift  of 
heart  and  soul  that  makes  him  a  better  American. 

PAUL  LELAND  HAWORTH. 


PREFACE 

The  story  of  George  Washington's  public  career 
has  been  many  times  told  in  books  of  varying  worth, 
but  there  is  one  important  aspect  of  his  private  life 
that  has  never  received  the  attention  it  deserves.  The 
present  book  is  an  attempt  to  supply  this  deficiency. 

I  desire  to  acknowledge  gratefully  the  assistance 
I  have  received  from  Messrs.  Gaillard  Hunt  and  John 
C.  Fitzpatrick  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  Mr.  Hubert 
B.  Fuller  lately  of  Washington  and  now  of  Cleveland, 
Colonel  Harrison  H.  Dodge  and  other  officials  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  Association,  and  from  the  work  of 
Paul  Leicester  Ford,  Worthington  C.  Ford  and  John 
M.  Toner. 

Above  all,  in  common  with  my  countrymen,  I  am 
indebted  to  heroic  Ann  Pamelia  Cunningham,  to  whose 
devoted  labor,  despite  ill  health  and  manifold  dis 
couragements,  the  preservation  of  Mount  Vernon  is 
due.  To  her  we  should  be  grateful  for  a  shrine  that 
has  not  its  counterpart  in  the  world — a  holy  place  that 
no  man  can  visit  without  experiencing  an  uplift  of 
heart  and  soul  that  makes  him  a  better  American. 

PAUL  LELAND  HAWORTH. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I    A  MAN  IN  LOVE  WITH  THE  SOIL 1 

II    BUILDING  AN  ESTATE   .     »    ,     .     ,    .    .    .    .  8 

III  VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  IN  WASHINGTON'S  DAY  .  37 

IV  WASHINGTON'S  PROBLEM        60 

V    THE  STUDENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 71 

VI    A  FARMER'S  RECORDS  AND  OTHER  PAPERS      .     .  76 

VII    AGRICULTURAL    OPERATIONS    AND    EXPERIMENTS 

BEFORE  THE  REVOLUTION 90 

VIII    CONSERVING  THE  SOIL 101 

IX    THE  STOCKMAN 131 

X    THE  HORTICULTURIST  AND  LANDSCAPE  GARDENER  149 

XI    WHITE  SERVANTS  AND  OVERSEERS 165 

XII    BLACK  SLAVES 191 

XIII  THE  FARMER'S  WIFE 219 

XIV  A  FARMER'S  AMUSEMENTS 239 

XV    A  CRITICAL  VISITOR  AT  MOUNT  VERNON     .     .     .  270 

XVI    PROFIT  AND  Loss 281 

XVII    ODDS  AND  ENDS 291 

XVIII    THE  VALE  OF  SUNSET 306 

INDEX  321 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Mount  Vernon  Stable,  Built  in  1733,  Showing  also  the 
Powell  Coach      ....     ^  .......     Frontispiece 

Mount  Vernon,  Showing  Kitchen  to  the  Left  and  Cov 
ered  Way  Leading  to  It 10 

The  Washington  Family 10 

Driveway  from  the  Lodge  Gate 18 

The  Porter's  Lodge ,.,.\.     .     .  18 

One  of  the  Artificial  Mounds.    The  Tree  Upon  It  Was 

Set  Out  by  Mrs.  Grover  Cleveland 32 

The  Seed  House.  Beyond  Lay  the  Vegetable  Garden  .  32 

The  Mount  Vernon  Kitchen  (restored)  50 

Map  of  Mount  Vernon  Drawn  by  Washington  and  Sent 

by  Him  to  Arthur  Young  in  1793 62 

Gully  on  a  Field  of  Union  Farm,  Showing  Susceptibility 

to  Erosion 68 

Looking  Across  Part  of  Dogue  Run  Farm  to  "Wood- 
lawn,"  the  Home  of  Nelly  Custis  Lewis 68 

First  Page  of  Washington's  Digest  of  Duhamel's  Hus 
bandry      80 

Dogue  Run  Below  the  Site  of  the  Mill 98 

On  the  Road  to  the  Mill  and  Pohick  Church     ....  98 

Part  of  Washington's  Plan  for  His  Sixteen-Sided  Barn  124 

Bill  of  Lading  for  "Royal  Gift" 138 

Experimental  Plot,  with  Servants'  Quarters   (restored) 

in  Background 152 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS— Continued 

PAGE 

West  Front  of  Mansion  House,  Showing  Bowling  Green 

and  Part  of  Serpentine  Drive 152 

First  Page  of  the  Diary  for  1760 162 

Part  of  a  Manager's  Weekly  Report 184 

The  Butler's  House  and  Magnolia  Set  Out  by  Washing 
ton  the  Year  of  His  Death 200 

Spinning  House — Last  Building  to  the  Right     ....  200 

Weekly  Report  on  the  Work  of  the  Spinners     ....  230 

The  Flower  Garden 264 

A  Page  from  a  Cash  Memorandum  Book 286 

One  of  Washington's  Tavern  Bills 300 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON: 
FARMER 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON: 
FARMER 

CHAPTER  I 

A  MAN  IN  LOVE  WITH  THE  SOIL 

ONE  December  day  in  the  year  1788  a  Vir 
ginia  gentleman  sat  before  his  desk  in  his 
mansion  beside  the  Potomac  writing  a  letter.  He 
was  a  man  of  fifty-six,  evidently  tall  and  of  strong 
figure,  but  with  shoulders  a  trifle  stooped,  enor 
mously  large  hands  and  feet,  sparse  grayish-chest 
nut  hair,  a  countenance  somewhat  marred  by  lines 
of  care  and  marks  of  smallpox,  withal  benevolent 
and  honest-looking — the  kind  of  man  to  whom  one 
could  intrust  the  inheritance  of  a  child  with  the 
certainty  that  it  would  be  carefully  administered 
and  scrupulously  accounted  for  to  the  very  last  six 
pence. 

The  letter  was  addressed  to  an  Englishman,  by 
1 


2      GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

name  Arthur  Young,  the  foremost  scientific  farmer 
of  his  day,  editor  of  the  Annals  of  Agriculture, 
author  of  many  books,  of  which  the  best  remem 
bered  is  his  Travels  in  France  on  the  eve  of  the 
French  Revolution,  which  is  still  read  by  every  stu 
dent  of  that  stirring  era. 

"The  more  I  am  acquainted  with  agricultural  af 
fairs,"  such  were  the  words  that  flowed  from  the 
writer's  pen,  "the  better  I  am  pleased  with  them; 
insomuch,  that  I  can  no  where  find  so  great  satisfac 
tion  as  in  those  innocent  and  useful  pursuits.  In  in 
dulging  these  feelings  I  am  led  to  reflect  how  much 
more  delightful  to  an  undebauched  mind  is  the  task 
of  making  improvements  on  the  earth  than  all  the 
vain  glory  which  can  be  acquired  from  ravaging  it, 
by  the  most  uninterrupted  career  of  conquests.'* 

Thus  wrote  George  Washington  in  the  fulness  of 
years,  honors  and  experience.  Surely  in  this  age  of 
crimson  mists  we  can  echo  his  correspondent  that 
it  was  a  "noble  sentiment,  which  does  honor  to  the 
heart  of  this  truly  great  man."  Happy  America  to 
have  had  such  a  philosopher  as  a  father ! 

"I  think  with  you  that  the  life  of  a  husbandman 
is  the  most  delectable,"  he  wrote  on  another  occasion 
to  the  same  friend.  "It  is  honorable,  it  is  amusing, 


IN   LOVE   WITH   THE   SOIL  3 

and,  with  judicious  management,  it  is  profitable.  To 
see  plants  rise  from  the  earth  and  flourish  by  the 
superior  skill  and  bounty  of  the  laborer  fills  a  con 
templative  mind  with  ideas  which  are  more  easy  to 
be  conceived  than  expressed." 

The  earliest  Washington  arms  had  blazoned  upon 
it  "3  Cinque  foiles,"  which  was  the  herald's  way  of 
saying  that  the  bearer  owned  land  and  was  a  farmer. 
When  Washington  made  a  book-plate  he  added  to 
the  old  design  spears  of  wheat  to  indicate  what  he 
once  called  "the  most  favorite  amusement  of  my 
life."  Evidently  he  had  no  fear  of  being  called  a 
"clodhopper"  or  a  "hayseed !" 

Nor  was  his  enthusiasm  for  agriculture  the  eva 
nescent  enthusiasm  of  the  man  who  in  middle  age 
buys  a  farm  as  a  plaything  and  tries  for  the  first 
time  the  costly  experiment  of  cultivating  the  soil. 
He  was  born  on  a  plantation,  was  brought  up  in  the 
country  and  until  manhood  he  had  never  even  seen  a 
town  of  five  thousand  people.  First  he  was  a  sur 
veyor,  and  so  careful  and  painstaking  was  he  that 
his  work  still  stands  the  test.  Later  he  became  a 
soldier,  and  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  at  first 
he  enjoyed  the  life  and  for  a  time  had  military  am 
bitions.  When  Braddock's  expedition  was  preparing 


4      GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

he  chafed  at  the  prospect  of  inaction  and  welcomed 
the  offer  to  join  the  general's  staff,  but  the  bitter 
experiences  of  the  next  few  years,  when  he  had 
charge  of  the  herculean  task  of  protecting  the  set 
tlers  upon  the  "cold  and  Barren  Frontiers  .  .  . 
from  the  cruel  Incursions  of  a  crafty  Savage  Ene 
my,"  destroyed  his  illusions  about  war.  After  the 
capture  of  Fort  Duquesne  had  freed  Virginia  from 
danger  he  resigned  his  commission,  married  and 
made  a  home.  Soon  after  he  wrote  to  an  English 
kinsman  who  had  invited  him  to  visit  London:  "I 
am  now  I  believe  fixed  at  this  seat  with  an  agreeable 
Consort  for  Life.  And  hope  to  find  more  happiness 
in  retirement  than  I  ever  experienced  amidst  a  wide 
bustling  world." 

Thereafter  he  quitted  the  quiet  life  always  with 
reluctance.  Amid  long  and  trying  years  he  con 
stantly  looked  forward  to  the  day  when  he  could  lay 
down  his  burden  and  retire  to  the  peace  and  freedom 
of  Mount  Vernon,  there  to  take  up  again  the  task 
of  farming.  As  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Armies 
of  the  Revolution  and  as  first  President  of  the  Re 
public  he  gave  the  best  that  was  in  him — and  it  was 
always  good  enough — but  more  from  a  sense  of 
duty  than  because  of  any  real  enthusiasm  for  the 


IN    LOVE   WITH    THE    SOIL  5 

role  of  either  soldier  or  statesman.  We  can  well 
believe  that  it  was  with  heartfelt  satisfaction  that 
soon  after  independence  was  at  last  assured  he  wrote 
to  his  old  comrade-in-arms  the  Marquis  de  Chas- 
tellux:  "I  am  at  length  become  a  private  citizen 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  where  under  my  own 
vine  and  fig-tree  free  from  the  bustle  of  a  camp  and 
the  intrigues  of  a  court,  I  shall  view  the  busy  world 
with  calm  indifference,  and  with  serenity  of  mind, 
which  the  soldier  in  pursuit  of  glory,  and  the  states 
man  of  a  name,  have  not  leisure  to  enjoy." 

Years  before  as  a  boy  he  had  copied  into  a 
wonderful  copy-book  that  is  still  preserved  in  the 
Library  of  Congress  some  verses  that  set  forth 
pretty  accurately  his  ideal  of  life — an  ideal  influ 
enced,  may  we  not  believe,  in  those  impressionable 
years  by  these  very  lines.  These  are  the  verses — one 
can  not  call  them  poetry — just  as  I  copied  them 
after  the  clear  boyish  hand  from  the  time-yellowed 
page: 

TRUE  HAPPINESS 

These  are  the  things,  which  once  possess'd 
Will  make  a  life  that's  truly  bless'd 
A  good  Estate  on  healthy  Soil, 
Not  Got  by  Vice  nor  yet  by  toil; 


6      GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Round  a  warm  Fire,  a  pleasant  Joke, 
With  Chimney  ever  free  from  Smoke: 
A  strength  entire,  a  Sparkling  Bowl, 
A  quiet  Wife,  a  quiet  Soul, 
A  Mind,  as  well  as  body,  whole 
Prudent  Simplicity,  constant  Friend, 
A  Diet  which  no  art  Commends; 
A  Merry  Night  without  much  Drinking 
A  happy  Thought  without  much  Thinking ; 
Each  Night  by  Quiet  Sleep  made  Short 
A  Will  to  be  but  what  thou  art : 
Possess'd  of  these,  all  else  defy 
And  neither  wish  nor  fear  to  Die 

These  are  things,  which  once  Possessed 
Will  make  a  life  that's  truly  bless'd. 

George  Washington  did  not  affect  the  role  of  a 
Cincinnatus;  he  took  it  in  all  sincerity  and  simple- 
ness  of  heart  because  he  loved  it. 

Nor  was  he  the  type  of  farmer — of  whom  we 
have  too  many — content  to  vegetate  like  a  lower 
organism,  making  scarcely  more  mental  effort  than 
one  of  his  own  potatoes,  parsnips  or  pumpkins.  As 
the  pages  that  follow  will  reveal,  he  was  one  of  the 
first  American  experimental  agriculturists,  always 
alert  for  better  methods,  willing  to  take  any  amount 
of  pains  to  find  the  best  fertilizer,  the  best  way  to 


IN    LOVE   WITH    THE    SOIL  7 

avoid  plant  diseases,  the  best  methods  of  cultivation, 
and  he  once  declared  that  he  had  little  patience  with 
those  content  to  tread  the  ruts  their  fathers  trod. 
If  he  were  alive  to-day,  we  may  be  sure  that  he 
would  be  an  active  worker  in  farmers'  institutes, 
an  eager  visitor  to  agricultural  colleges,  a  reader  of 
scientific  reports  and  an  enthusiastic  promoter  of 
anything  tending  to  better  American  farming  and 
farm  life. 


CHAPTER  II 

BUILDING  AN  ESTATE 

ArGUSTINE  WASHINGTON  was  a  planter 
who  owned  thousands  of  acres  of  land,  most 
of  it  unimproved,  besides  an  interest  in  some  small 
iron  works,  but  he  had  been  twice  married  and  at 
his  death  left  two  broods  of  children  to  be  pro 
vided  for.  George,  a  younger  son — which  implied 
a  great  deal  in  those  days  of  entail  and  primogeni 
ture — received  the  farm  on  the  Rappahannock  on 
which  his  father  lived,  amounting  to  two  hundred 
and  eighty  acres,  a  share  of  the  land  lying  on  Deep 
Run,  three  lots  in  Frederick,  a  few  negro  slaves  and 
a  quarter  of  the  residuary  estate.  He  was  also  given 
a  reversionary  interest  in  Mount  Vernon,  be 
queathed  to  his  half-brother  Lawrence.  The  total 
value  of  his  inheritance  was  small,  and,  as  Virginia 
landed  fortunes  went,  he  was  left  poorly  provided 
for. 

Much  of  Washington's  youth  was  spent  with 
8 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  9 

Lawrence  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  as  an  aside  it  may 
be  remarked  here  that  the  main  moulding  influence 
in  his  life  was  probably  cast  by  this  high-minded 
brother,  who  was  a  soldier  and  man  of  the  world. 
By  the  time  he  was  sixteen  the  boy  was  on  the  fron 
tier  helping  Lord  Thomas  Fairfax  to  survey  the 
princely  domain  that  belonged  to  his  lordship,  and 
received  in  payment  therefor  sometimes  as  much  as 
a  doubloon  a  day.  In  1748  he  patented  five  hundred 
fifty  acres  of  wild  land  in  Frederick  County,  "My 
Bullskin  Plantation"  he  usually  called  it,  payment 
being  made  by  surveying.  In  1750  he  had  funds 
sufficient  to  buy  four  hundred  fifty-six  acres  of  land 
of  one  James  McCracken,  paying  therefor  one  hun 
dred  twelve  pounds.  Two  years  later  for  one 
hundred  fifteen  pounds  he  bought  five  hundred  fifty- 
two  acres  on  the  south  fork  of  Bullskin  Creek  from 
Captain  George  Johnston.  In  1757  he  acquired  from 
a  certain  Darrell  five  hundred  acres  on  Dogue  Run 
near  Mount  Vernon,  paying  three  hundred  fifty 
pounds. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  very  early  he  ac 
quired  the  "land  hunger"  to  which  most  of  the  Vir 
ginians  of  his  day  were  subject,  as  a  heritage  from 


10     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

their  English  ancestry.  In  the  England  of  that  day, 
in  fact,  no  one  except  a  churchman  could  hope  to 
attain  much  of  a  position  in  the  world  unless  he  was 
the  owner  of  land,  and  until  the  passage  of  the 
great  Reform  Bill  in  1832  he  could  not  even  vote 
unless  he  held  land  worth  forty  shillings  a  year.  In 
Virginia  likewise  it  was  the  landholder  who  enjoyed 
distinction  and  consideration,  who  was  sent  to  the 
House  of  Burgesses  and  was  bowed  and  scraped  to 
as  his  coach  bumped  along  over  the  miserable  roads. 
The  movement  to  cities  did  not  begin  until  after  the 
Industrial  Revolution,  and  people  still  held  the 
healthy  notion  that  the  country  was  the  proper  place 
in  which  to  live  a  normal  human  existence. 

In  1752  Lawrence  Washington  died.  As  already 
stated,  he  was  the  proprietor  by  inheritance  of 
Mount  Vernon,  then  an  estate  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  acres  which  had  been  in  the  Washington 
family  since  1674,  being  a  grant  from  Lord  Cul- 
peper.  Lawrence  had  fought  against  the  Spaniards 
in  the  conflict  sometimes  known  as  the  war  of  Jen 
kins's  Ear,  and  in  the  disastrous  siege  of  Cartagena 
had  served  under  Admiral  Vernon,  after  whom  he 
later  named  his  estate.  He  married  Anne  Fairfax, 
daughter  of  Sir  William  Fairfax,  and  for  her  built 


Mount  Vernon, 
Showing  Kitchen  to  the  Left  and  Covered  Way  Leading  to  It 


Prom   a  painting  by   T.  P.   Rossitcr  and  L.   R.  Mignot 

The  Washington  Family 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  11 

on  his  estate  a  new  residence,  containing  eight 
rooms,  four  to  each  floor,  with  a  large  chimney  at 
each  end. 

Lawrence  Washington  was  the  father  of  four  chil 
dren,  but  only  an  infant  daughter,  Sarah,  survived 
him,  and  she  died  soon  after  him.  By  the  terms 
of  his  father's  and  Lawrence's  wills  George  Wash 
ington,  after  the  death  of  this  child,  became  the  ul 
timate  inheritor  of  the  Mount  Vernon  estate,  but, 
contrary  to  the  common  idea,  Anne  Fairfax  Wash 
ington,  who  soon  married  George  Lee,  retained  a 
life  interest.  On  December  17,  1754,  however,  the 
Lees  executed  a  deed  granting  said  life  interest  to 
George  Washington  in  consideration  of  an  annual 
payment  during  Anne  Lee's  lifetime  of  fifteen  thou 
sand  pounds  of  tobacco  or  the  equivalent  in  current 
money.*  Mrs.  Lee  died  in  1761  and  thereafter 
Washington  owned  the  estate  absolutely.  That  it 
was  by  no  means  so  valuable  at  that  time  as  its  size 
would  indicate  is  shown  by  the  smallness  of  the 
rent  he  paid,  never  more  than  four  hundred  sixty- 
five  dollars  a  year.  Many  eighty-acre  farms  rent  for 
that  much  to-day  and  even  for  more. 

*  From  entries  in  Washington's  account  book  we  know  that 
this  equivalent  in  1755  was  £93.15;  during  each  of  the  next 
four  years  it  was  £87.10,  and  for  1760  it  was  £81.5. 


12     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Up  to  1759  Washington  was  so  constantly  en 
gaged  in  fighting  the  French  and  Indians  that  he 
had  little  time  and  opportunity  to  look  after  his 
private  affairs  and  in  consequence  they  suffered.  In 
1757  he  wrote  from  the  Shenandoah  Valley  to  an 
English  agent  that  he  should  have  some  tobacco  to 
sell,  but  could  not  say  whether  he  did  have  or  not. 
His  pay  hardly  sufficed  for  his  personal  expenses 
and  on  the  disastrous  Fort  Necessity  and  Braddock 
campaigns  he  lost  his  horses  and  baggage.  Owing 
to  his  absence  from  home,  his  affairs  fell  into  great 
disorder  from  which  they  were  extricated  by  a  for 
tunate  stroke. 

This  stroke  consisted  in  his  marriage  to  Martha 
Custis,  relict  of  the  wealthy  Daniel  Parke  Custis. 
The  story  of  his  wooing  the  young  widow  has  been 
often  told  with  many  variations  and  fanciful  em 
bellishments,  but  of  a  few  facts  we  are  certain. 
From  a  worldly  point  of  view  Mrs.  Custis  was  the 
most  desirable  woman  in  all  Virginia,  and  the  young 
officer,  though  not  as  yet  a  victor  in  many  battles, 
had  fought  gallantly,  possessed  the  confidence  of  the 
Colony  and  formed  a  shining  exception  to  most  of 
the  tidewater  aristocracy  who  continued  to  hunt  the 
fox  and  guzzle  Madeira  while  a  cruel  foe  was  harry- 


BUILDING   AN   ESTATE  13 

ing  the  western  border.  Matters  moved  forward 
with  the  rapidity  traditional  in  similar  cases  and  in 
about  three  weeks  and  before  the  Colonel  left  to  join 
Forbes  in  the  final  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne 
the  little  widow  had  been  wooed  and  won.  After  his 
return  from  that  expedition  Washington  resigned 
his  commission  and  on  the  6th  of  January,  1759, 
they  were  married  at  her  "White  House"  on  York 
River  and  spent  their  honeymoon  at  her  "Six  Chim 
ney  House"  in  Williamsburg. 

The  young  groom  and  farmer — as  he  would  now 
have  styled  himself — was  at  this  time  not  quite 
twenty-seven  years  old,  six  feet  two  inches  high, 
straight  as  an  Indian  and  weighed  about  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-five  pounds.  His  bones  and  joints 
were  large,  as  were  his  hands  and  feet.  He  was 
wide-shouldered  but  somewhat  flat-chested,  neat- 
waisted  but  broad  across  the  hips,  with  long  arms 
and  legs.  His  skin  was  rather  pale  and  colorless  and 
easily  burned  by  the  sun,  and  his  hair,  a  chestnut 
brown,  he  usually  wore  in  a  queue.  His  mouth  was 
large  and  generally  firmly  closed  and  the  teeth  were 
already  somewhat  defective.  His  countenance  as  a 
whole  was  pleasing,  benevolent  and  commanding, 
and  in  conversation  he  looked  one  full  in  the  face 


14     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

and  was  deliberate,  deferential  and  engaging.  His 
voice  was  agreeable  rather  than  strong.  His  de 
meanor  at  all  times  was  composed  and  dignified,  his 
movements  and  gestures  graceful,  his  walk  majestic 
and  he  was  a  superb  horseman.* 

The  bride  brought  her  husband  a  "little  progeny" 
consisting  of  two  interesting  stepchildren;  also  prop 
erty  worth  about  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in 
cluding  many  negro  slaves,  money  on  bond  and  stock 
in  the  Bank  of  England.  Soon  we  find  him  sending 
certificates  of  the  marriage  to  the  English  agents  of 
the  Custis  estate  and  announcing  to  them  that  the 
management  of  the  whole  would  be  in  his  hands. 

The  dower  negroes  were  kept  separate  from  those 
owned  by  himself,  but  otherwise  he  seems  to  have 
made  little  distinction  between  his  own  and  Mrs. 
Washington's  property,  which  was  now,  in  fact,  by 
Virginia  law  his  own.  When  Martha  wanted  money 
she  applied  to  him  for  it.  Now  and  then  in  his  cash 
memorandum  books  we  come  upon  such  entries  as, 
"By  Cash  to  Mrs.  Washington  for  Pocket  Money 
£4."  As  a  rule,  if  there  were  any  purchases  to  be 
made,  she  let  George  do  it  and,  if  we  may  judge 

*  Adapted  from  a  description  written  by  his  comrade- 
in-arms,  George  Mercer, 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  15 

from  the  long  list  of  tabby  colored  velvet  gowns, 
silk  hose,  satin  shoes,  "Fashionable  Summer  Cloaks 
&  Hatts,"  and  similar  articles  ordered  from  the  Eng 
lish  agents  she  had  no  reason  to  complain  that  her 
husband  was  niggardly  or  a  poor  provider.  If  her 
"Old  Man" — for  she  sometimes  called  him  that — 
failed  in  anything  she  desired,  tradition  says  that 
the  little  lady  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  hold  of  a 
button  of  his  coat  and  hanging  on  until  he  had 
promised  to  comply. 

He  managed  the  property  of  the  two  children 
with  great  care  and  fidelity,  keeping  a  scrupulous  ac 
count  in  a  "marble  colour'd  folio  Book"  of  every 
penny  received  or  expended  in  their  behalf  and  mak 
ing  a  yearly  report  to  the  general  court  of  his  stew 
ardship.  How  minute  this  account  was  is  indicated 
by  an  entry  in  his  cash  memorandum  book  for  Au 
gust  21,  1772 :  "Charge  Miss  Custis  with  a  hair  Pin 
mended  by  C.  Turner"  one  shilling.  Her  death  (of 
"Fitts")  in  1773  added  about  ten  thousand  pounds 
to  Mrs.  Washington's  property,  which  meant  to  his 
own. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  fortune  he  ac 
quired  by  the  Custis  alliance  proved  of  great  ad 
vantage  to  him  in  his  future  career,  for  it  helped  to 


16     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

make  him  independent  as  regards  money  consider 
ations.  He  might  never  have  become  the  Father  of 
His  Country  without  it.  Some  of  his  contempo 
raries,  including  jealous-hearted  John  Adams,  seem 
to  have  realized  this,  and  tradition  says  that  old 
David  Burnes,  the  crusty  Scotsman  who  owned  part 
of  the  land  on  which  the  Federal  City  was  laid  out, 
once  ventured  to  growl  to  the  President :  "Now 
what  would  ye  ha'  been  had  ye  not  married  the 
widow  Custis?"  But  this  was  a  narrow  view  of  the 
matter,  for  Washington  was  known  throughout  the 
Colonies  before  he  married  the  Custis  pounds  ster 
ling  and  was  a  man  of  too  much  natural  ability  not 
to  have  made  a  mark  in  later  life,  though  possibly 
not  so  high  a  one.  Besides,  as  will  be  explained  in 
detail  later,  much  of  the  Custis  money  wras  lost  dur 
ing  the  Revolution  as  a  result  of  the  depreciation  in 
the  currency. 

Following  his  marriage  Washington  added  largely 
to  his  estate,  both  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Vernon  and  elsewhere.  In  1759  he  bought  of  his 
friend  Bryan  Fairfax  two  hundred  .and  seventy-five 
acres  on  Difficult  Run,  and  about  the  same  time 
from  his  neighbor,  the  celebrated  George  Mason  of 
Gunston  Hall,  he  acquired  one  hundred  acres  next 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  17 

that  already  bought  of  Darrell.  Negotiations  en 
tered  into  with  a  certain  Clifton  for  the  purchase  of 
a  tract  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  six  acres 
called  Brents  was  productive  of  much  annoyance. 
Clifton  agreed  in  February,  1760,  to  sell  the  ground 
for  one  thousand  one  hundred  fifty  pounds,  but 
later,  "under  pretence  of  his  wife  not  consenting  to 
acknowledge  her  right  of  dower  wanted  to  disengage 
himself  .  .  .  and  by  his  shuffling  behavior  con 
vinced  me  of  his  being  the  trifling  body  repre 
sented."  Washington  heard  presently  that  Clifton 
had  sold  the  land  to  another  man  for  one  thousand 
two  hundred  pounds,  which  fully  "unravelled  his 
conduct  .-.-  .  .  and  convinced  me  that  he  was 
nothing  less  than  a  thorough  paced  rascal."  Ulti 
mately  Washington  acquired  Brents,  but  had  to  pay 
one  thousand  two  hundred  ten  pounds  for  it. 

During  the  next  few  years  he  acquired  other 
tracts,  notably  the  Posey  plantation  just  below 
Mount  Vernon  and  later  often  called  by  him  the 
Ferry  Farm.  With  it  he  acquired  a  ferry  to  the 
Maryland  shore  and  a  fishery,  both  of  which  indus 
tries  he  continued. 

By  1771  he  paid  quit  rents  upon  an  estate  of  five 
thousand  five  hundred  eighteen  acres  in  Fairfax 


18    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

County ;  on  two  thousand  four  hundred  ninety-eight 
acres  in  Frederick  County;  on  one  thousand  two 
hundred  fifty  acres  in  King  George ;  on  two  hundred 
forty  in  Hampshire;  on  two  hundred  seventy-five 
in  Loudoun;  on  two  thousand  six  hundred  eighty- 
two  in  Loudoun  Faquier — in  all,  twelve  thousand 
four  hundred  sixty-three  acres.  The  quit  rent  was 
two  shillings  and  sixpence  per  hundred  acres  and 
amounted  to  £15.11.7. 

In  addition  to  these  lands  in  the  settled  parts  of 
Virginia  he  also  had  claims  to  vast  tracts  in  the  un 
settled  West.  For  services  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War  he  was  given  twenty  thousand  acres  of  wild 
land  beyond  the  mountains — a  cheap  mode  of  re 
ward,  for  the  Ohio  region  was  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  more  remote  than  Yukon  is  to-day.  Many 
of  his  fellow  soldiers  held  their  grants  so  lightly  that 
he  was  able  to  buy  their  claims  for  almost  a  song. 
The  feeling  that  such  grants  were  comparatively 
worthless  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  to  become 
effective  they  must  be  located  and  surveyed,  while 
doubt  existed  as  to  whether  they  would  be  respected 
owing  to  conflicting  claims,  jurisdictions  and  proc 
lamations. 

Washington,   however,  had  seen  the  land  and 


Driveway  from  the  Lodge  Gate 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  19 

knew  it  was  good  and  he  had  prophetic  faith  in  the 
future  of  the  West.  He  employed  his  old  comrade 
Captain  William  Crawford  to  locate  and  survey 
likely  tracts  not  only  in  what  is  now  West  Virginia 
and  western  Pennsylvania,  but  beyond  the  Ohio 
River.  Settlement  in  the  latter  region  had  been  for 
bidden  by  the  King's  proclamation  of  1763,  but 
Washington  thought  that  this  was  merely  a  tempo 
rary  measure  designed  to  quiet  the  Indians  and  was 
anxious  to  have  picked  out  in  advance  "some  of  the 
most  valuable  land  in  the  King's  part."  In  other 
words  he  desired  Crawford  to  act  the  part  of  a 
"Sooner,"  in  the  language  of  more  than  a  century 
later. 

In  this  period  a  number  of  companies  were  scram 
bling  for  western  lands,  and  Washington,  at  one 
time  or  another,  had  an  interest  in  what  was  known 
as  the  Walpole  Grant,  the  Mississippi  Company,  the 
Military  Company  of  Adventurers  and  the  Dismal 
Swamp  Company.  This  last  company,  however,  was 
interested  in  redeeming  lands  about  Dismal  Swamp 
in  eastern  Virginia  and  it  was  the  only  one  that  suc 
ceeded.  In  1799  he  estimated  the  value  of  his  share 
in  that  company  at  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Washington  took  the  lead  in  securing  the  rights 


20     GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

of  his  old  soldiers  in  the  French  War,  advancing 
money  to  pay  expenses  in  behalf  of  the  common 
cause  and  using  his  influence  in  the  proper  quarters. 
In  August,  1770,  he  met  many  of  his  former  offi 
cers  at  Captain  Weedon's  in  Fredericksburg,  and 
after  they  had  dined  and  had  talked  over  old  times, 
they  discussed  the  subject  of  their  claims  until  sun 
set,  and  it  was  decided  that  Washington  should  per 
sonally  make  a  long  and  dangerous  trip  to  the  west 
ern  region. 

In  October  he  set  out  with  his  old  friend  Doctor 
James  Craik  and  three  servants,  including  the  ubiq 
uitous  Billy  Lee,  and  on  the  way  increased  the 
party.  They  followed  the  old  Braddock  Road  to 
Pittsburgh,  then  a  village  of  about  twenty  log  cab 
ins,  visiting  en  route  some  tracts  of  land  that  Craw 
ford  had  selected.  At  Pittsburgh  they  obtained  a 
large  dugout,  and  with  Crawford,  two  Indians  and 
several  borderers,  floated  down  the  Ohio,  picking 
out  and  marking  rich  bottom  lands  and  having  great 
sport  hunting  and  fishing. 

The  region  in  which  they  traveled  was  then  little 
known  and  was  unsettled  by  white  men.  Daniel 
Boone  had  made  his  first  hunting  trip  into  "the  dark 
and  bloody  ground  of  Kaintuckee"  only  the  year  be- 


BUILDING   AN   ESTATE  21 

fore,  and  scattered  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio 
stood  the  wigwam  villages  of  the  aboriginal  lords 
of  the  land.  At  one  such  village  Washington  met  a 
chief  who  had  accompanied  him  on  his  memorable 
winter  journey  in  1753  to  warn  out  the  French,  and 
elsewhere  talked  with  Indians  who  had  shot  at  him 
in  the  battle  of  the  Monongahela  and  now  expressed 
a  belief  that  he  must  be  invulnerable.  At  the  Mingo 
Town  they  saw  a  war  party  of  three  score  painted 
Iroquois  on  their  way  to  fight  the  far  distant  Cataw- 
bas.  Between  the  Indians  and  the  white  men  peace 
nominally  reigned,  but  rumors  were  flying  of  im 
pending  uprisings,  and  the  Red  Man's  smouldering 
hate  was  soon  to  burst  into  the  flame  known  as  Lord 
Dunmore's  War.  Once  the  party  was  alarmed  by 
a  report  that  the  Indians  had  killed  two  white  men, 
but  they  breathed  easier  on  learning  that  the  sole 
basis  of  the  story  was  that  a  trader  had  tried  to 
swim  his  horse  across  the  Ohio  and  had  been 
drowned.  In  spite  of  uncertainties,  the  voyagers 
continued  to  the  Great  Kanawha  and  paddled  about 
fourteen  miles  up  that  stream.  Near  its  mouth 
Washington  located  two  large  tracts  for  himself  and 
military  comrades  and  after  interesting  hunting  ex 
periences  and  inspecting  some  enormous  sycamores 


22     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

— concerning  which  matters  more  hereafter — the 
party  turned  back,  and  Washington  reached  home 
after  an  absence  of  nine  weeks. 

Two  of  Washington's  western  tracts  are  of  spe 
cial  interest.  One  had  been  selected  by  Crawford  in 
1767  and  was  "a  fine  piece  of  land  on  a  stream 
called  Chartiers  Creek"  in  the  present  Washington 
County,  southwest  of  Pittsburgh.  Crawford  sur 
veyed  the  tract  and  marked  it  by  blazed  trees,  built 
four  cabins  and  cleared  a  patch  of  ground,  as  an 
improvement,  about  each.  Later  Washington,  cast 
ing  round  for  some  one  from  whom  to  obtain  a  mili 
tary  title  with  which  to  cover  the  tract,  bought  out 
the  claim  of  his  financially  embarrassed  old  neighbor 
Captain  John  Posey  to  three  thousand  acres,  paying 
£11.11.3,  or  about  two  cents  per  acre.  Crawford, 
now  a  deputy  surveyor  of  the  region,  soon  after  re- 
surveyed  two  thousand  eight  hundred  thirteen  acres 
and  forwarded  the  "return"  to  Washington,  with 
the  result  that  in  1774  Governor  Dunmore  of  Vir 
ginia  granted  a  patent  for  the  land. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  six  squatters  built  a 
cabin  upon  the  tract  and  cleared  two  or  three  acres, 
but  Crawford  paid  them  five  pounds  for  their  im 
provements  and  induced  them  to  move  on.  To  keep 


BUILDING   AN   ESTATE  23 

off  other  interlopers  he  placed  a  man  on  the  land, 
but  in  1773  a  party  of  rambunctious  Scotch-Irish 
men  appeared  on  the  scene,  drove  the  keeper  away, 
built  a  cabin  so  close  in  front  of  his  door  that  he 
could  not  get  back  in,  and  continued  to  hold  the  land 
until  after  the  Revolution. 

By  that  time  Crawford  himself  was  dead — hav 
ing  suffered  the  most  terrible  of  all  deaths — that  of 
an  Indian  captive  burnt  at  the  stake. 

The  other  tract  whose  history  it  is  worth  our 
while  to  follow  consisted  of  twelve  hundred  acres 
on  the  Youghiogheny  River,  likewise  not  far  from 
Pittsburgh.  It  bore  seams  of  coal,  which  Washing 
ton  examined  in  1770  and  thought  "to  be  of  the  very 
best  kind,  burning  freely  and  abundance  of  it."  In 
the  spring  of  1773  he  sent  out  a  certain  Gilbert 
Simpson,  with  whom  he  had  formed  a  sort  of  part 
nership,  to  look  after  this  land,  and  each  fur 
nished  some  laborers,  Washington  a  "fellow"  and  a 
"wench."  Simpson  managed  to  clear  some  ground 
and  get  in  six  acres  of  corn,  but  his  wife  disliked 
life  on  the  borderland  and  made  him  so  uncomfort 
able  with  her  complaints  that  he  decided  to  throw 
up  the  venture.  However,  he  changed  his  mind,  and 
after  a  trip  back  East  returned  and,  on  a  site  noticed 


24    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

by  the  owner  on  his  visit,  built  a  grist  mill  on  a  small 
stream  now  called  Washington's  Run  that  empties 
into  the  Youghiogheny.  This  was  one  of  the  first 
mills  erected  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 
is  still  standing,  though  more  or  less  rebuilt.  The 
millstones  were  dug  out  of  quarries  in  the  neighbor 
hood  and  the  work  of  building  the  mill  was  done 
amid  considerable  danger  from  the  Indians,  who  had 
begun  what  is  known  as  Dunmore's  War.  Simpson's 
cabin  and  the  slave  quarters  stood  near  what  is  now 
Plant  No.  2  of  the  Washington  Coal  and  Coke  Com 
pany.  The  tract  of  land  contains  valuable  seams  of 
coal  and  with  some  contiguous  territory  is  valued  at 
upward  of  twenty  million  dollars. 

Washington  had  large  ideas  for  the  development 
of  these  western  lands.  At  one  time  he  considered 
attempting  to  import  Palatine  Germans  to  settle 
there,  but  after  careful  investigation  decided  that 
the  plan  was  impracticable.  In  1774  he  bought  four 
men  convicts,  four  indented  servants,  and  a  man  and 
his  wife  for  four  years  and  sent  them  and  some  car 
penters  out  to  help  Simpson  build  the  mill  and  other 
wise  improve  the  lands.  Next  year  he  sent  out  an 
other  party,  but  Indian  troubles  and  later  the  Revo 
lution  united  with  the  natural  difficulties  of  the 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  25 

country  to  put  a  stop  to  progress.  Some  of  the  serv 
ants  were  sold  and  others  ran  away,  but  Simpson 
stayed  on  in  charge,  though  without  making  any 
financial  settlement  with  his  patron  till  1784. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  Washington  wrote 
to  President  John  Witherspoon  of  Princeton  College 
that  he  had  in  the  western  country  patents  under  sig 
nature  of  Lord  Dunmore  "for  about  30,000  acres, 
and  surveys  for  about  10,000  more,  patents  for 
which  were  suspended  by  the  disputes  with  Great 
Britain,  which  soon  followed  the  return  of  the  war 
rants  to  the  land  office.  Ten  thousand  acres  of  the 
above  thirty  lie  upon  the  Ohio ;  the  rest  on  the  Great 
Kenhawa,  a  river  nearly  as  large,  and  quite  as  easy 
in  its  navigation,  as  the  former.  The  whole  of  it  is 
rich  bottom  land,  beautifully  situated  on  these  rivers, 
and  abounding  plenteously  in  fish,  wild- fowl,  and 
game  of  all  kinds." 

He  could  have  obtained  vast  land  grants  for  his 
Revolutionary  services,  but  he  stuck  by  his  an 
nounced  intention  of  receiving  only  compensation 
for  his  expenses.  He  continued,  however,  to  be 
greatly  interested  in  the  western  country  and  was 
one  of  the  first  Americans  to  foresee  the  importance 
of  that  region  to  the  young  Republic,  predicting  that 


26     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

it  would  become  populated  more  rapidly  than  any 
one  could  believe  and  faster  than  any  similar  region 
ever  had  been  settled.  He  was  extremely  anxious 
to  develop  better  methods  of  communication  with 
the  West  and  in  1783  made  a  trip  up  the  Mohawk 
River  to  the  famous  Oneida  or  Great  Carrying  Place 
to  view  the  possibilities  of  waterway  development  in 
that  region — the  future  course  of  the  Erie  Canal. 
Soon  after  he  wrote  to  his  friend  the  Chevalier  de 
Chastellux :  "I  could  not  help  taking  a  more  exten 
sive  view  of  the  vast  inland  navigation  of  these 
United  States  and  could  not  but  be  struck  by  the  im 
mense  extent  and  importance  of  it,  and  of  the  good 
ness  of  that  Providence  which  has  dealt  its  favors  to 
us  with  so  profuse  a  hand.  Would  to  God  we  may 
have  wisdom  enough  to  improve  them.  I  shall  not 
rest  contented  till  I  have  explored  the  Western 
Country,  and  traversed  those  lines  or  great  part  of 
them,  which  have  given  bounds  to  a  new  empire." 
In  partnership  with  George  Clinton  he  bought,  in 
1784,  a  tract  of  six  thousand  acres  on  the  Mohawk, 
paying  for  his  share,  including  interest,  one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  seventy-five  pounds.  In  1793 
he  sold  two-thirds  of  his  half  for  three  thousand 
four  hundred  pounds  and  in  his  will  valued  the  thou- 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  27 

sand  acres  that  remained  at  six  thousand  dollars. 
This  was  a  speculation  pure  and  simple,  as  he  was 
never  in  the  region  in  which  the  land  lay  but  once. 

On  December  23,  1783,  in  an  ever  memorable 
scene,  Washington  resigned  his  commission  as  Com 
mander  of  the  Continental  Army  and  rode  off  from 
Annapolis  to  Mount  Vernon  to  keep  Christmas  there 
for  the  first  time  since  1774.  The  next  eight  months 
he  was  busily  engaged  in  making  repairs  and  im 
provements  about  his  home  estate,  but  on  Septem 
ber  first,  having  two  days  before  said  good-by  to  La 
fayette,  who  had  been  visiting  him,  he  set  off  on 
horseback  to  inspect  his  western  lands  and  to  obtain 
information  requisite  to  a  scheme  he  had  for  im 
proving  the  "Inland  Navigation  of  the  Potomac" 
and  connecting  its  head  waters  by  canal  with  those 
of  the  Ohio.  The  first  object  was  rendered  impera 
tive  by  the  settlement  of  squatters  on  part  of  his 
richest  land,  some  of  which  was  even  being  offered 
for  sale  by  unscrupulous  land  agents. 

With  him  went  again  his  old  friend  Doctor  Craik. 
Their  equipage  consisted  of  three  servants  and  six 
horses,  three  of  which  last  carried  the  baggage,  in 
cluding  a  marquee,  some  camp  utensils,  a  few  medi 
cines,  "hooks  and  lines,"  Madeira,  port  wine  and 


28    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

cherry  bounce.  Stopping  at  night  and  for  meals  at 
taverns  or  the  homes  of  relatives  or  friends,  they 
passed  up  the  picturesque  Potomac  Valley,  meeting 
many  friends  along  the  way,  among  them  the  cele 
brated  General  Daniel  Morgan,  with  whom  Wash 
ington  talked  over  the  waterways  project.  At 
"Happy  Retreat,"  the  home  of  Charles  Washing 
ton  in  the  fertile  Shenandoah  Valley,  beyond  the 
Blue  Ridge,  Washington  met  and  transacted  busi 
ness  with  tenants  who  lived  on  his  lands  in  that  re 
gion.  On  September  fifth  he  reached  Bath,  the  pres 
ent  Berkeley  Springs,  where  he  owned  two  thousand 
acres  of  land  and  two  lots.  Here  fifteen  years  before 
he  had  come  with  his  family  in  the  hope  that  the 
water  would  benefit  poor  "Patey"  Custis,  and  here 
he  met  "the  ingenious  Mr.  Rumney"  who  showed 
him  the  model  of  a  boat  to  be  propelled  by  steam. 

At  Bath  the  party  was  joined  by  Doctor  Craik's 
son  William  and  by  the  General's  nephew,  Bushrod 
Washington.  Twelve  miles  to  the  west  Washington 
turned  aside  from  the  main  party  to  visit  a  tract  of 
two  hundred  forty  acres  that  he  owned  on  the  Vir 
ginia  side  of  the  Potomac.  He  found  it  "exceedingly 
Rich,  &  must  be  very  valuable. — the  lower  end  of 
the  Land  is  rich  white  oak  in  places  springey  .  .  . 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  29 

the  upper  part  is  .  «  .  covered  with  Walnut  of 
considerable  size  many  of  them."  He  "got  a  snack" 
at  the  home  of  a  Mr.  McCracken  and  left  with  that 
gentleman  the  terms  upon  which  he  would  let  the 
land,  then  rode  onward  and  rejoined  the  others. 

The  cavalcade  passed  on  to  Fort  Cumberland. 
There  Washington  left  the  main  party  to  follow 
with  the  baggage  and  hurried  on  ahead  along  Brad- 
dock's  old  road  in  order  to  fill  an  appointment  to  be 
at  Gilbert  Simpson's  by  the  fifteenth.  Passing 
through  the  dark  tangle  of  Laurel  know  as  the 
Shades  of  Death,  he  came  on  September  twelfth  to 
the  opening  among  the  mountains — the  Great  Mead 
ows — where  in  1754  in  his  rude  little  fort  of  logs, 
aptly  named  Fort  Necessity,  he  had  fought  the 
French  and  had  been  conquered  by  them.  He 
owned  the  spot  now,  for  in  1770  Crawford  had 
bought  it  for  him  for  "30  Pistols."*  Thirty  years 
before,  as  an  enthusiastic  youth,  he  had  called  it  a 
"charming  field  for  an  encounter" ;  now  he  spoke  of 
it  as  "capable  of  being  turned  to  great  advantage 
.  .  .  a  very  good  stand  for  a  Tavern — much 
Hay  may  be  cut  here  When  the  ground  is  laid  down 

*  Doubtless  he  meant  pistoles,  coins,  not  weapons. 


30     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

in  grass  &  the  upland,  East  of  the  Meadow,  is  good 
for  grain." 

Not  a  word  about  the  spot's  old  associations! 

The  same  day  he  pushed  on  through  the  moun 
tains,  meeting  "numbers  of  Persons  &  Pack  horses 
going  in  with  Ginseng;  &  for  Salt  &  other  articles 
at  the  Markets  below/'  and  near  nightfall  reached 
on  the  Youghiogheny  River  the  tract  on  which  Gil 
bert  Simpson,  his  agent,  lived.  He  found  the  land 
poorer  than  he  had  expected  and  the  buildings  that 
had  been  erected  indifferent,  while  the  mill  was  in 
such  bad  condition  that  "little  Rent,  or  good  is  to  be 
expected  from  the  present  aspect  of  her."  He  was, 
in  fact,  unable  to  find  a  renter  for  the  mill  and  let 
the  land,  twelve  hundred  acres,  now  worth  millions, 
for  only  five  hundred  bushels  of  wheat ! 

The  land  had  cost  him  far  more  than  he  had  re 
ceived  from  it.  Simpson  had  not  proved  a  man  of 
much  energy  and  even  had  he  been  otherwise  condi 
tions  in  the  region  would  have  prevented  him  from 
accomplishing  much  in  a  financial  way,  for  there  was 
little  or  no  market  for  farm  produce  near  at  hand 
and  the  cost  of  transportation  over  the  mountains 
was  prohibitive.  During  the  Revolution,  however, 
Simpson  had  in  some  way  or  other  got  hold  of  some 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  31 

paper  currency  and  a  few  months  before  had  turned 
over  the  worthless  bills  to  Washington.  A  cen 
tury  later  the  package  was  sold  at  auction,  and  the 
band,  which  was  still  unbroken,  bore  upon  it  in 
Washington's  hand :  "Given  by  Gilbt.  Simpson,  19 
June,  1784." 

At  Simpson's  Washington  was  met  by  a  delega 
tion  from  the  squatters  on  his  holdings  on  Miller's 
Run  or  Chartiers  Creek,  "and  after  much  conversa 
tion  &  attempts  in  them  to  discover  all  the  flaws  they 
could  in  my  Deed  &c."  they  announced  that  they 
would  give  a  definite  answer  as  to  what  they  would 
do  when  Washington  reached  the  land  in  dispute. 

He  drew  near  the  neighborhood  on  the  following 
Saturday,  but  the  next  day  "Being  Sunday,  and  the 
People  living  on  my  Land,  apparently  very  religious, 
it  was  thought  best  to  postpone  going  among  them 
till  to-morrow."  On  Monday,  in  company  with  sev 
eral  persons  including  the  high  sheriff,  Captain  Van 
Swearingen,  or  "Indian  Van,"  captain  of  one  of  the 
companies  in  Morgan's  famous  rifle  corps,  he  pro 
ceeded  to  the  land  and  found  that,  of  two  thousand 
eight  hundred  thirteen  acres,  three  hundred  sixty- 
three  were  under  cultivation  and  forty  more  were  in 
meadow.  On  the  land  stood  twelve  cabins  and  nine 


32     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

barns  claimed  by  fourteen  different  persons,  most  or 
all  of  whom  were  doughty  Scotch-Irishmen. 

Washington  was  humane  enough  to  see  that  they 
had  something  to  urge  in  their  behalf  and  offered  to 
sell  them  the  whole  tract  at  twenty-five  shillings  an 
acre,  or  to  take  them  as  tenants,  but  they  stubbornly 
refused  his  offers  and  after  much  wrangling  an 
nounced  their  intention  to  stand  suit.  Ejectment; 
proceedings  were  accordingly  brought  by  Washing 
ton's  attorney,  Thomas  Smith  of  Carlisle.  The  case 
was  tried  in  1786  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania  and  resulted  in  Washington's  favor. 

In  1796  Washington  sold  the  tract  to  a  certain 
Matthew  Richey  for  twelve  thousand  dollars,  of 
which  three  thousand  one  hundred  eighty  dollars 
was  to  be  paid  in  cash  and  the  rest  in  three  annual 
instalments.  Richey  died  in  1798,  and  Washington's 
heirs  had  difficulties  in  their  attempts  to  collect  the 
remainder. 

Leaving  these  legal  matters  to  be  disposed  of  by 
lawyers,  Washington  turned  back  without  visiting 
his  Kanawha  or  Ohio  lands,  and  on  October  fourth 
reached  Mount  Vernon,  having  traveled  on  horse 
back  about  six  hundred  eighty  miles.  One  result  of 
his  trip  was  the  formation  of  the  Potomac  Com- 


The   Seed   House 
Beyond  Lay  the  Vegetable  Garden 


One  of  the  Artificial  Mounds 
The  Tree  upon  It  was  Set  out  by  Mrs.  Grover  Cleveland 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  33 

pany,  but  this  is  a  subject  that  lies  without  the  scope 
of  this  book. 

From  that  time  onward  he  bought  occasional 
tracts  of  lands  in  various  parts  of  the  country  or 
acquired  them  in  discharge  of  debts.  By  the  death 
of  his  mother  he  acquired  her  land  on  Accokeek 
Creek  in  Stafford  County,  near  where  his  father  had 
operated  an  iron  furnace. 

Washington's  landed  estate  as  listed  in  his  will 
amounted  to  about  sixty  thousand  two  hundred  two 
acres,  besides  lots  in  Washington,  Alexandria,  Win 
chester,  Bath,  Manchester,  Edinburgh  and  Rich 
mond.  Nine  thousand  two  hundred  twenty-seven 
acres,  including  Mount  Vernon  and  a  tract  on  Four 
Mile  Run,  he  specifically  bequeathed  to  individuals, 
as  he  did  some  of  the  lots.  The  remaining  lots  and 
fifty  thousand  nine  hundred  seventy-five  acres 
(some  of  which  land  was  already  conditionally  sold) 
he  directed  to  be  disposed  of,  together  with  his  live 
stock,  government  bonds  and  shares  held  by  him  in 
the  Potomac  Company,  the  Dismal  Swamp  Com 
pany,  the  James  River  Company  and  the  banks  of 
Columbia  and  Alexandria — the  whole  value  of 
which  he  conservatively  estimated  at  five  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  value  of  the  prop- 


34    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

erty  he  specifically  bequeathed,  with  his  slaves, 
which  he  directed  should  be  freed,  can  only  be 
guessed  at,  but  can  hardly  have  been  short  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  more.  In  other 
words,  he  died  possessed  of  property  worth  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  and  was  the  richest  man  in 
America. 

Not  all  of  the  land  that  he  listed  in  his  will  proved 
of  benefit  to  his  heirs.  The  title  to  three  thousand 
fifty-one  acres  lying  on  the  Little  Miami  River  in 
what  is  now  Ohio  and  valued  by  him  at  fifteen  thou 
sand  two  hundred  fifty-five  dollars  proved  defect 
ive.  In  1790  a  law,  signed  by  himself,  had  passed 
Congress  requiring  the  recording  of  such  locations 
with  the  federal  Secretary  of  State.  Washington's 
locations  and  surveys  of  this  Ohio  land  had  already 
been  recorded  in  the  Virginia  land  office,  and  with 
a  carelessness  unusual  in  hkn  he  neglected  to  comply 
with  the  statute.  After  his  death  certain  persons 
took  advantage  of  the  defect  and  seized  the  lands, 
and  his  executors  failed  to  embrace  another  oppor 
tunity  given  them  to  perfect  the  title,  with  the  result 
that  the  lands  were  lost. 

The  matter  rested  until  a  few  years  ago  when 
some  descendants  of  the  heirs  set  their  heads  to- 


BUILDING   AN    ESTATE  35 

gether  and  one  of  them,  Robert  E.  Lee,  Jr.,  procured 
his  appointment  in  1907  by  the  court  of  Fairfax 
County  as  administrator  de  bonis  non  of  Washing 
ton's  estate.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  regain 
the  lands — which  lie  not  far  from  Cincinnati  and 
are  worth  vast  sums — so  the  movers  in  the  matter 
had  recourse  to  that  last  resort  of  such  claimants — 
Congress — and,  with  the  modesty  usually  shown  by 
claimants,  asked  that  body  to  reimburse  the  heirs  in 
the  sum  of  three  hundred  and  five  thousand  one  hun 
dred  dollars — that  is,  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre — 
with  interest  from  the  date  of  petition. 

Thus  far  Congress  has  not  seen  fit  to  comply,  nor 
does  there  seem  to  be  any  good  reason  why  it  should 
do  so.  The  land  cost  Washington  a  mere  bagatelle, 
it  was  lost  through  the  neglect  of  himself  and  his 
executors,  and  not  one  of  the  persons  who  would 
benefit  by  such  a  subsidy  from  the  public  funds  is  his 
lineal  descendant.  As  a  mere  matter  of  public  policy 
and  common  sense  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
any  claim  upon  government,  no  matter  how  just  in 
itself,  should  be  reimbursed  beyond  the  third  gener 
ation.  The  heirs  urge  in  extenuation  of  the  claim 
that  Washington  refused  to  accept  any  compensa 
tion  for  his  Revolutionary  services,  but  it  is  an- 


36    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

swered  that  if  is  hardly  seemly  for  his  gran 
nephews  and  grand  nieces  many  times  removed  t 
beg  for  something  that  the  Father  of  His  Countr 
himself  rejected.  One  wonders  whether  the  clain 
ants  would  dare  to  press  their  claims  in  the  presenc 
of  their  great  Kinsman  himself! 


CHAPTER  III 

VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  IN  WASHINGTON^  DAY 

THE  Virginia  of  George  Washington's  youth 
and  early  manhood  was  an  imperial  domain 
reaching  from  Atlantic  tidewater  through  a  thou 
sand  leagues  of  forests,  prairies  and  mountains 
"west  and  northwest"  to  the  South  Sea.  Only  a  nar 
row  fringe  along  the  eastern  coast  was  settled  by 
white  men ;  the  remainder  was  a  terra  incognita  into 
which  Knights  of  the  Golden  Horseshoe  and  Indian 
traders  had  penetrated  a  short  distance,  bringing 
back  stories  of  endless  stretches  of  wolf-haunted 
woodland,  of  shaggy- fronted  wild  oxen,  of  saline 
swamps  in  which  reposed  the  whitened  bones  of 
prehistoric  monsters,  of  fierce  savage  tribes  whose 
boast  was  of  the  number  of  scalps  that  swung  in 
the  smoke  of  their  wigwams.  Even  as  late  as  1750 
the  fertile  Shenandoah  Valley  beyond  the  Blue 
Ridge  formed  the  extreme  frontier,  while  in  general 
the  "fall  line,"  >vhere  the  drop  from  the  foothills  to 

37 


38     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  coastal  plain  stops  navigation,  marked  the  limit 
of  settlement. 

At  the  time  that  Washington  began  to  farm  in 
earnest  eastern  Virginia  had,  however,  been  settled 
for  one  hundred  fifty-two  years.  Yet  the  population 
was  almost  wholly  rural.  Williamsburg,  the  capital, 
was  hardly  more  than  a  country  village,  and  Nor 
folk,  the  metropolis,  probably  did  not  contain  more 
than  five  thousand  inhabitants.  The  population  gen 
erally  was  so  scattered  that,  as  has  been  remarked, 
a  man  could  not  see  his  neighbor  without  a  telescope 
or  be  heard  by  him  without  firing  a  gun. 

A  large  part  of  the  settled  land  was  divided  up 
into  great  estates,  though  there  were  many  small 
farms.  Some  of  these  estates  had  been  acquired  for 
little  or  nothing  by  Cavalier  favorites  of  the  colonial 
governors.  A  few  were  perfectly  enormous  in  size, 
and  this  was  particularly  the  rule  on  the  "Northern 
Neck,"  the  region  in  which  Mount  Vernon  was  sit 
uated.  The  holding  of  Lord  Thomas  Fairfax,  the 
early  friend  and  patron  of  Washington,  embraced 
more  than  a  score  of  modern  counties  and  contained 
upward  of  five  million  acres.  The  grant  had  been 
made  by  Fairfax's  grandfather,  Lord  Culpeper,  the 
coproprietor  and  Governor  of  Virginia. 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  39 

The  Virginia  plantation  of  1760  was  much  more 
sufficient  unto  itself  than  was  the  same  plantation  of 
the  next  century  when  methods  of  communication 
had  improved,  articles  from  the  outside  world  were 
easier  to  obtain,  and  invention  was  beginning  to  be 
come  "the  mother  of  necessity."  Many  of  the  large 
plantations,  in  fact,  bore  no  small  resemblance  to 
medieval  manors.  There  was  the  planter  himself  re 
siding  with  his  family  in  the  mansion,  which  corre 
sponded  to  the  manor  house,  and  lording  it  over  a 
crowd  of  white  and  black  dependents,  corresponding 
to  serfs.  The  servants,  both  white  and  black,  dwelt 
somewhat  apart  in  the  quarters,  rude  log  huts  for 
the  most  part,  but  probably  as  comfortable  as  those 
of  the  Saxon  churls  of  the  time  of  the  Plantagenets. 
The  planter's  ownership  over  the  persons  of  his  de 
pendents  was,  however,  much  more  absolute  than 
was  that  of  the  Norman  lord,  for  on  the  manors  the 
serfs  could  not  be  sold  off  the  land,  a  restriction  that 
did  not  apply  in  Virginia  either  to  black  slaves  or  in 
dentured  servants.  On  the  manor,  furthermore,  the 
serf  had  his  own  bits  of  ground,  for  which  he  paid 
rent  in  kind,  money  or  service,  and  the  holdings 
passed  from  father  to  son;  on  the  plantation  the 
slave  worked  under  an  overseer  on  his  master's 


40    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

crops  only  and  had  nothing  that  he  could  call  his 
own — not  even  his  wife  or  children.  In  the  matter 
of  the  organization  of  industries  there  was  a  closer 
resemblance.  The  planter  generally  raised  the  staple 
articles  of  food  for  his  family  and  slaves,  as  did  the 
lord,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  other  articles 
used  or  consumed  were  manufactured  on  the  place. 
A  son  of  George  Mason,  Washington's  close  friend 
and  neighbor,  has  left  us  the  following  description 
of  industry  at  Gunston  Hall : 

"My  father  had  among  his  slaves  carpenters, 
coopers,  sawyers,  blacksmiths,  tanners,  curriers, 
shoemakers,  spinners,  weavers,  and  knitters,  and 
even  a  distiller.  His  woods  furnished  timber  and 
plank  for  the  carpenters  and  coopers,  and  charcoal 
for  the  blacksmith ;  his  cattle  killed  for  his  own  con 
sumption  and  for  sale,  supplied  skins  for  the  tanners, 
curriers,  and  shoemakers;  and  his  sheep  gave  wool 
and  his  fields  produced  cotton  and  flax  for  the 
weavers  and  spinners,  and  his  own  orchards  fruit 
for  the  distillers.  His  carpenters  and  sawyers  built 
and  kept  in  repair  all  the  dwelling-houses,  barns, 
stables,  ploughs,  harrows,  gates,  etc.,  on  the  planta 
tions,  and  the  outhouses  of  the  house.  His  coopers 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  41 

made  the  hogsheads  the  tobacco  was  prized  in,  and 
the  tight  casks  to  hold  the  cider  and  other  liquors. 
The  tanners  and  curriers,  with  the  proper  vats,  etc., 
tanned  and  dressed  the  skins  as  well  for  upper  as 
for  lower  leather  to  the  full  amount  of  the  consump 
tion  of  the  estate,  and  the  shoemakers  made  them 
into  shoes  for  the  negroes.  A  professed  shoemaker 
was  hired  for  three  or  four  months  in  the  year  to 
come  and  make  up  the  shoes  for  the  white  part 
of  the  family.  The  blacksmiths  did  all  the  iron 
work  required  by  the  establishment,  as  making 
and  repairing  ploughs,  harrows,  teeth,  chains,  bolts, 
etc.  The  spinners,  weavers,  and  knitters  made 
all  the  coarse  cloths  and  stockings  used  by  the  ne 
groes,  and  some  of  fine  texture  worn  by  the  white 
family,  nearly  all  worn  by  the  children  of  it.  The 
distiller  made  every  fall  a  good  deal  of  apple, 
peach,  and  persimmon  brandy.  The  art  of  dis 
tilling  from  grain  was  not  then  among  us,  and 
but  few  public  distilleries.  All  these  operations  were 
carried  on  at  the  home  house,  and  their  results  dis 
tributed  as  occasion  required  to  the  different  planta 
tions.  Moreover,  all  the  beeves  and  hogs  for  con 
sumption  or  sale  were  driven  up  and  slaughtered 


42     GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

there  at  the  proper  seasons,  and  whatever  was  to  be 
preserved  was  salted  and  packed  away  for  distribu 
tion." 

Nevertheless  the  plantation  drew  upon  the  outside 
world  for  many  articles,  especially  luxuries,  and  the 
owner  had  to  find  the  wherewithal  to  make  pay 
ment.  The  almost  universal  answer  to  this  problem 
was — tobacco.  It  was  not  an  ideal  answer,  and  his 
torians  have  scolded  the  departed  planters  vigor 
ously  for  doing  the  sum  in  that  way,  yet  the  planters 
were  victims  of  circumstances.  They  had  no  gold 
or  silver  mines  from  which  to  draw  bullion  that 
could  be  coined  into  cash;  the  fur  trade  was  of  little 
importance  compared  with  that  farther  north;  the 
Europe  of  that  day  raised  sufficient  meat  and  grain 
for  its  own  use,  and  besides  these  articles  were  bulky 
and  costly  to  transport.  But  Europe  did  have  a 
strong  craving  for  the  weed  and,  almost  of  neces 
sity,  Virginians  set  themselves  to  satisfying  it.  They 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  do  otherwise  when  a 
pound  of  tobacco  would  often  bring  in  England 
more  than  a  bushel  of  wrheat,  while  it  cost  only  a 
sixtieth  part  as  much  to  send  it  thither.  It  is  esti 
mated  that  prior  to  the  Revolution  Virginia  often 
sent  out  annually  as  much  as  ninety-six  thousand 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  43 

hogsheads  of  tobacco.  Tobacco  took  the  place  of 
money,  and  debts,  taxes  and  even  ministers'  sal 
aries  were  paid  in  it. 

The  disadvantages  of  tobacco  culture  are  well 
known.  Of  all  crops  it  is  perhaps  the  most  exhaust 
ing  to  the  soil,  nor  was  a  large  part  of  Virginia 
particularly  fertile  to  begin  with.  Much  land  was 
speedily  ruined,  but  nothing  was  so  cheap  and  plen 
tiful  in  that  day  as  land,  so  the  planter  light-heart 
edly  cleared  more  and  let  the  old  revert  to  the  wil 
derness.  Any  one  who  travels  through  the  long  set 
tled  parts  of  Virginia  to-day  will  see  many  such  old 
fields  upon  which  large  forest  trees  are  now  grow 
ing  and  can  find  there,  if  he  will  search  closely 
enough,  signs  of  the  old  tobacco  ridges.  Only  heroic 
measures  and  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  for  fer 
tilizer  could  make  such  worn-out  land  again  pro 
ductive.  Washington  himself  described  the  charac 
ter  of  the  agriculture  in  words  that  can  not  be  im 
proved  upon: 

"A  piece  of  land  is  cut  down,  and  left  under  con 
stant  cultivation,  first  in  tobacco,  and  then  in  Indian 
corn  (two  very  exhausting  plants),  until  it  will  yield 
scarcely  anything;  a  second  piece  is  cleared,  and 
treated  in  the  same  manner ;  then  a  third  and  so  on, 


44     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

until  probably  there  is  but  little  more  to  clear.  When 
this  happens,  the  owner  finds  himself  reduced  to  the 
choice  of  one  of  three  things — either  to  recover  the 
land  which  he  has  ruined,  to  accomplish  which,  he 
has  perhaps  neither  the  skill,  the  industry,  nor  the 
means ;  or  to  retire  beyond  the  mountains ;  or  to  sub 
stitute  quantity  for  quality  in  order  to  raise  some 
thing.  The  latter  has  been  generally  adopted,  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  horses,  he  scratches  over 
much  ground,  and  seeds  it,  to  very  little  purpose." 

The  tobacco  industry  was  not  only  ruinous  to  the 
soil,  but  it  was  badly  organized  from  a  financial 
standpoint.  Three  courses  were  open  to  the  planter 
who  had  tobacco.  He  might  sell  it  to  some  local  mer 
cantile  house,  but  these  were  not  numerous  nor  as 
a  rule  conveniently  situated  to  the  general  run  of 
planters.  He  might  deposit  it  in  a  tobacco  ware 
house,  receiving  in  return  a  receipt,  which  he  could 
sell  if  he  saw  fit  and  could  find  a  purchaser.  Or  he 
could  send  his  tobacco  direct  to  an  English  agent  to 
be  sold. 

If  a  great  planter  and  particularly  if  situated  upon 
navigable  water,  this  last  was  the  course  he  was  apt 
to  follow.  He  would  have  his  own  wharf  to  which 
once  or  twice  a  year  a  ship  would  come  bringing  the 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  45 

supplies  he  had  ordered  months  before  and  taking 
away  the  great  staple.  If  brought  from  a  distance, 
the  tobacco  was  rarely  hauled  to  the  wharf  in  wag 
ons — the  roads  were  too  wretched  for  that — instead 
it  was  packed  in  a  great  cylindrical  hogshead 
through  which  an  iron  or  wooden  axle  was  put. 
Horses  or  oxen  were  then  hitched  to  the  axle  and 
the  hogshead  was  rolled  to  its  destination. 

By  the  ship  that  took  away  his  tobacco  the  planter 
sent  to  the  English  factor  a  list  of  the  goods  he 
would  require  for  the  next  year.  It  was  an  unsatis 
factory  way  of  doing  business,  for  time  and  distance 
conspired  to  put  the  planter  at  the  factor's  mercy. 
The  planter  was  not  only  unlikely  to  obtain  a  fair 
price  for  his  product,  but  he  had  to  pay  excessive 
prices  for  poor  goods  and  besides  could  never  be 
certain  that  his  order  would  be  properly  filled. 

Washington's  experiences  with  his  English  agents 
were  probably  fairly  typical.  Near  the  close  of  1759 
he  complained  that  Thomas  Knox  of  Bristol  had 
failed  to  send  him  various  things  ordered,  such  as 
half  a  dozen  scythes  and  stones,  curry  combs  and 
brushes,  weeding  and  grubbing  hoes,  and  axes,  and 
that  now  he  must  buy  them  in  America  at  exorbitant 
prices.  Not  long  afterward  he  wrote  again :  "I  have 


46     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

recieved  my  goods  from  the  Recovery,  and  cant  help 
again  complaining  of  the  little  care  taken  in  the 
purchase:  Besides  leaving  out  half  and  the  most 
material  half  too!  of  the  Articles  I  sent  for,  I  find 
the  Sein  is  without  Leads,  corks  and  Ropes  which 
renders  it  useless — the  crate  of  stone  ware  dont  con 
tain  a  third  of  the  Pieces  I  am  charged  with,  and 
only  two  things  broken,  and  everything  very  high 
Charged." 

In  September  of  the  same  year  he  ordered,  among 
other  things,  busts  of  Alexander  the  Great,  Julius 
Cxsar,  Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  Frederick  the  Great, 
Prince  Eugene  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough;  also 
of  two  wild  beasts.  The  order  was  "filled"  by  send 
ing  him  a  group  showing  y£neas  bearing  his  father 
from  Troy,  two  groups  with  two  statues  of  Bac 
chus  and  Flora,  two  ornamental  vases  and  two 
"Lyons." 

"It  is  needless  for  me  to  particularise  the  sorts, 
quality,  or  taste  I  woud  choose  to  have  them  in  un 
less  it  is  observd,"  he  wrote  a  year  later  to  Robert 
Cary  &  Company  of  London  apropos  of  some  arti 
cles  with  which  he  was  dissatisfied,  "and  you  may 
believe  me  when  I  tell  you  that  instead  of  getting 
things  good  and  fashionable  in  their  several  kind, 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  47 

we  often  have  articles  sent  us  that  coud  only  have 
been  used  by  our  Forefathers  in  the  days  of  yore — 
Tis  a  custom,  I  have  some  reason  to  believe,  with 
many  Shop  keepers,  and  Tradesmen  in  London 
when  they  know  Goods  are  bespoke  for  Transpor 
tation  to  palm  sometimes  old,  and  sometimes  very 
slight  and  indifferent  goods  upon  us  taking  care  at 
the  same  time  to  advance  10,  15,  or  perhaps  20  pr. 
Ct.  upon  them." 

To  his  London  shoemaker  he  wrote,  November 
30,  1759,  that  the  last  two  pairs  of  dog  leather 
pumps  scarce  lasted  twice  as  many  days.  To  his 
tailor  he  complained  on  another  occasion  of  exorbi 
tant  prices.  "I  shall  only  refer  you  generally  to  the 
Bills  you  have  sent  me,  particularly  for  a  Pompa 
dour  Suit  forwarded  last  July  amounting  to  £16.3.6 
without  embroidery,  Lace  or  Binding — not  a  close 
fine  cloth  neither — and  only  a  gold  Button  that 
woud  not  stand  the  least  Wear." 

Another  time  he  mentions  that  his  clothes  fit 
poorly,  which  is  not  strange  considering  that  meas 
urements  had  to  be  sent  three  thousand  miles  and 
there  was  no  opportunity  to  try  the  garments  on 
with  a  view  to  alterations.  We  may  safely  conclude, 
therefore,  that  however  elegant  Virginia  society  of 


48     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

that  day  may  have  been  in  other  respects,  it  was  not 
distinguished  for  well  fitting  clothes! 

Most  Virginia  planters  got  in  debt  to  their  agents, 
and  Washington  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  When 
his  agents,  Robert  Gary  &  Company,  called  his  at 
tention  to  the  fact,  he  wrote  them,  that  they  seemed 
in  a  bit  of  a  hurry  considering  the  extent  of  past 
dealings  with  each  other.  "Mischance  rather  than 
Misconduct  hath  been  the  cause  of  it,"  he  asserted, 
explaining  that  he  had  made  large  purchases  of  land, 
that  crops  had  been  poor  for  three  seasons  and 
prices  bad.  He  preferred  to  let  the  debt  stand,  but 
if  the  agents  insisted  upon  payment  now  he  would 
find  means  to  discharge  the  obligation. 

Not  all  planters  could  speak  so  confidently  of  their 
ability  to  find  means  to  discharge  a  debt,  for  the 
truth  is  that  the  profits  of  tobacco  culture  were  by 
no  means  so  large  as  has  often  been  supposed.  A 
recent  writer  speaks  of  huge  incomes  of  twenty 
thousand  to  eighty  thousand  pounds  a  year  and 
asserts  that  "the  ordinary  planter  could  count 
on  an  income  of  from  £3,000  to  £6,000."  The  first 
figures  are  altogether  fabulous,  "paper  profits"  of 
the  same  sort  that  can  be  obtained  by  calculating 
profits  upon  the  geometrical  increase  of  geese  as  il- 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  49 

lustrated  in  a  well  known  story.  Even  the  last  men 
tioned  sums  were  realized  only  under  the  most  fa 
vorable  conditions  and  by  a  few  planters.  Much  of 
the  time  the  price  of  the  staple  was  low  and  the  costs 
of  transportation  and  insurance,  especially  in  time 
of  war,  were  considerable.  Washington  himself  had 
a  consignment  of  tobacco  captured  by  the  French. 

The  planters  were  by  no  means  so  prosperous  as 
is  often  supposed  and  neither  was  their  life  so 
splendid  as  has  often  been  pictured.  Writers  seem 
to  have  entered  into  a  sort  of  conspiracy  to  mislead 
us  concerning  it.  The  tendency  is  one  to  which 
Southern  writers  are  particularly  prone  in  all  that 
concerns  their  section.  If  they  speak  of  a  lawyer,  he 
is  always  a  profound  student  of  the  law;  of  a  sol 
dier,  he  is  the  bravest  tenderest  knight  that  ever  trod 
shoe  leather;  of  a  lady,  she  is  the  most  beautiful  that 
ever  graced  a  drawing-room. 

The  old  Virginia  life  had  its  color  and  charm, 
though  its  color  and  charm  lay  in  large  part  in  things 
concerning  which  the  writers  have  little  or  nothing 
to  say.  It  is  true  that  a  few  planters  had  their  gor 
geous  coaches,  yet  Martha  Washington  remembered 
when  there  was  only  one  coach  in  the  whole  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  throughout  her  life  the  roads  were  so 


50    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

wretched  that  those  who  traveled  over  them  in  ve 
hicles  ran  in  imminent  danger  of  being  overturned, 
with  possible  dislocation  of  limbs  and  disjointing  of 
necks.  Virginians  had  their  liveried  servants,  ma 
hogany  furniture,  silver  plate,  silks  and  satins;  an 
examination  of  the  old  account  books  proves  that 
they  often  had  these  and  many  other  expensive 
things,  along  with  their  Madeira  and  port  wine.  But 
the  same  books  show  that  the  planter  was  chronically 
in  debt  and  that  bankruptcy  was  common,  while  ac 
counts  left  by  travelers  reveal  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  mansion  houses  were  shabby  and  run  down, 
with  rotting  roofs,  ramshackle  doors,  broken  win 
dows  into  which  old  hats  or  other  garments  had 
been  thrust  to  keep  the  wind  away.  In  a  word,  a 
traveler  could  find  to-day  more  elegance  in  a  back 
county  of  Arkansas  than  then  existed  in  tidewater 
Virginia. 

The  tobacco  industry  was  a  culture  that  required 
much  labor.  In  the  spring  a  pile  of  brush  was  burned 
and  on  the  spot  thus  fertilized  and  made  friable  the 
seed  were  sowed.  In  due  course  the  ground  was  pre 
pared  and  the  young  plants  were  transplanted  into 
rows.  Later  they  must  be  repeatedly  plowed,  hoed 
and  otherwise  cultivated  and  looked  after  and  finally 


VIRGINIA   AGRICULTURE  51 

the  leaves  must  be  cut  or  gathered  and  carried  to 
the  dry  house  to  be  dried.  One  man  could  care  for 
only  two  or  three  acres,  hence  large  scale  cultivation 
required  many  hands — result,  the  importation  of 
vast  numbers  of  indentured  servants  and  black 
slaves,  with  the  blighting  effects  always  consequent 
upon  the  presence  of  a  servile  class  in  a  community. 

Although  tobacco  was  the  great  staple,  some  of 
the  Virginia  planters  had  begun  before  the  Revolu 
tion  to  raise  considerable  crops  of  wheat,  and  most 
of  them  from  the  beginning  cultivated  Indian  corn. 
From  the  wheat  they  made  flour  and  bread  for 
themselves,  and  with  the  corn  they  fed  their  hogs 
and  horses  and  from  it  also  made  meal  for  the  use 
of  their  slaves.  In  the  culture  of  neither  crop  were 
they  much  advanced  beyond  the  Egyptians  of  the 
times  of  the  Pyramids.  The  wheat  was  reaped  with 
sickles  or  cradles  and  either  flailed  out  or  else  tram 
pled  out  by  cattle  and  horses,  usually  on  a  dirt  floor 
in  the  open  air.  Washington  estimated  in  1791  that 
the  average  crop  of  wheat  amounted  to  only  eight 
or  ten  bushels  per  acre,  and  the  yield  of  corn  was 
also  poor. 

So  much  emphasis  was  laid  upon  tobacco  that 
many  planters  failed  to  produce  food  enough.  Some 


52     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

raised  none  at  all,  with  the  result  that  often  both 
men  and  animals  were  poorly  fed,  and  at  best  the 
cost  of  food  and  forage  exhausted  most  of  the 
profits.  A  somewhat  similar  condition  exists  in  the 
South  to-day  with  regard  to  cotton. 

Almost  no  attention  was  paid  to  conserving  the 
soil  by  rotation  of  crops,  and  even  those  few  planters 
who  attempted  anything  of  the  sort  followed  the  old 
plan  of  allowing  fields  to  lie  in  a  naked  fallow  and  to 
grow  up  in  noxious  weeds  instead  of  raising  a  cover 
crop  such  as  clover.  Washington  wrote  in  1782: 
"My  countrymen  are  too  much  used  to  corn  blades 
and  corn  shucks;  and  have  too  little  knowledge  of 
the  profit  of  grass  land."  And  again  in  1787: 

"The  general  custom  has  been,  first  to  raise  a 
crop  of  Indian  corn  (maize)  which,  according  to  the 
mode  of  cultivation,  is  a  good  preparation  for 
wheat ;  then  a  crop  of  wheat ;  after  which  the  ground 
is  respited  (except  for  weeds,  and  every  trash  that 
can  contribute  to  its  foulness)  for  about  eighteen 
months;  and  so  on,  alternately,  without  any  dress 
ing,  till  the  land  is  exhausted ;  when  it  is  turned  out, 
without  being  sown  with  grass-seeds,  or  reeds,  or 
any  method  taken  to  restore  it ;  and  another  piece  la 
ruined  in  the  same  manner.  No  more  cattle  is  raised 


VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  53 

than  can  be  supported  by  lowland  meadows,  swamps 
&c.  and  the  tops  and  blades  of  Indian  corn;  as  very 
few  persons  have  attended  to  growing  grasses,  and 
connecting  cattle  with  their  crcps.  Jhe  Indian  corn 
is  the  chief  support  of  the  labourers  and  their 
horses." 

As  for  the  use  of  fertilizer,  very  little  was  at 
tempted,  for,  as  Jefferson  explained,  "we  can  buy  an 
acre  of  new  land  cheaper  than  we  can  manure  an  old 
one."  It  was  this  cheapness  of  land  that  made  it  al 
most  impossible  for  the  Virginians  to  break  away 
from  their  ruinous  system — ruinous,  not  necessarily 
to  themselves,  but  to  future  generations.  Conserva 
tion  was  then  a  doctrine  that  was  little  preached. 
Posterity  could  take  care  of  itself.  Only  a  few  per 
sons  like  Washington  realized  their  duty  to  the  fu 
ture. 

In  the  matter  of  stock  as  well  as  in  pure  agricul 
ture  the  Virginians  were  backward.  They  showed 
to  best  advantage  in  the  matter  of  horses.  Virginia 
gentlemen  were  fond  of  horses,  and  some  owned 
fine  animals  and  cared  for  them  carefully.  A  Ran 
dolph  of  Tuckahoe  is  said  to  have  had  a  favorite 
dapple-gray  named  "Shakespeare"  for  ;whom  he 
built  a  special  stable  with  a  sort  of  recess  next  the 


54    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

stall  in  which  the  groom  slept.  Generally  speaking, 
however,  even  among  the  aristocracy  the  horses 
were  not  so  good  nor  so  well  cared  for  as  in  the  next 
century. 

Among  the  small  farmers  and  poorer  people  the 
horses  were  apt  to  be  scrubs,  often  mere  bags  of 
bones.  A  scientific  English  agriculturist  named 
Parkinson,  who  came  over  in  1798,  tells  us  that  the 
American  horses  generally  "leap  well;  they  are  ac 
customed  to  leap  from  the  time  of  foaling;  as  it  is 
not  at  all  uncommon,  if  the  mare  foal  in  the  night, 
for  some  part  of  the  family  to  ride  the  mare,  with 
the  foal  following  her,  from  eighteen  to  twenty 
miles  next  day,  it  not  being  customary  to  walk  much. 
I  think  that  is  the  cause  of  the  American  horse  hav 
ing  a  sort  of  amble:  the  foal  from  its  weak  state, 
goes  pacing  after  the  dam,  and  retains  that  motion 
all  its  life.  The  same  is  the  case  with  respect  to 
leaping:  there  being  in  many  places  no  gates,  the 
snake  or  worm- fence  (which  is  one  rail  laid  on  the 
end  of  another)  is  taken  down  to  let  the  mare  pass 
through,  and  the  foal  follow:  but,  as  it  is  usual  to 
leave  two  or  three  rails  untaken  down,  which  the 
mare  leaps  over,  the  foal,  unwilling  to  be  left  behind, 
follows  her;  so  that,  by  the  time  it  is  one  week  old, 


VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  55 

it  has  learned  to  leap  three  feet  high ;  and  progress 
ively,  as  it  grows  older,  it  leaps  higher,  till  at  a  year 
old,  it  will  leap  its  own  height." 

Sheep  raising  was  not  attempted  to  any  great  ex 
tent,  partly  because  of  the  ravages  of  wolves  and 
dogs  and  partly  because  the  sheep  is  a  perverse  ani 
mal  that  often  seems  to  prefer  dying  to  keeping  alive 
and  requires  skilled  care  to  be  made  profitable.  The 
breeds  were  various  and  often  were  degenerated. 
Travelers  saw  Holland  or  rat-tailed  sheep,  West  In 
dian  sheep  with  scant  wool  and  much  resembling 
goats,  also  a  few  Spanish  sheep,  but  none  would 
have  won  encomiums  from  a  scientific  English 
breeder.  The  merino  had  not  yet  been  introduced. 
Good  breeds  of  sheep  were  difficult  to  obtain,  for 
both  the  English  and  Spanish  governments  forbade 
the  exportation  of  such  animals  and  they  could  be 
obtained  only  by  smuggling  them  out. 

In  1792  Arthur  Young  expressed  astonishment 
when  told  that  wolves  and  dogs  were  a  serious  im 
pediment  to  sheep  raising  in  America,  yet  this  was 
undoubtedly  the  case.  The  rich  had  their  foxhounds, 
while  every  poor  white  and  many  negroes  had  from 
one  to  half  a  dozen  curs — all  of  which  canines  were 
likely  to  enjoy  the  sport  of  sheep  killing.  Mr.  Rich- 


56    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

ard  Peters,  a  well  informed  farmer  of  Pennsylvania, 
said  that  wherever  the  country  was  much  broken 
wolves  were  to  be  found  and  bred  prodigiously.  "I 
lay  not  long  ago  at  the  foot  of  South  Mountain,  in 
York  county,  in  this  State,  in  a  country  very  thickly 
settled,  at  the  house  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
Through  the  night  I  was  kept  awake  by  what  I  con 
ceived  to  be  a  jubilee  of  dogs,  assembled  to  bay  the 
moon.  But  I  was  told  in  the  morning,  that  what  dis 
turbed  me,  was  only  the  common  howling  of  wolves, 
which  nobody  there  regarded.  When  I  entered  the 
Hall  of  Justice,  I  found  the  'Squire  giving  judgment 
for  the  reward  on  two  wolf  whelps  a  countryman 
had  taken  from  the  bitch.  The  judgment-seat  was 
shaken  with  the  intelligence,  that  the  wolf  was  com 
ing — not  to  give  bail — but  to  devote  herself  or  res 
cue  her  offspring.  The  animal  was  punished  for  this 
'daring  contempt,  committed  in  the  face  of  the  court, 
and  was  shot  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  tri 
bunal." 

Virginians  had  riot  yet  learned  the  merits  of  grass 
and  pasture,  and  their  cattle,  being  compelled  to 
browse  on  twigs  and  weeds,  were  often  thin  and 
poor.  Many  ranged  through  the  woods  and  it  was 
so  difficult  to  get  them  up  that  sometimes  they  would 


VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  57, 

not  be  milked  for  two  or  three  days.  Often  they 
gave  no  more  than  a  quart  of  milk  a  day  and  were 
probably  no  better  in  appearance  than  the  historian 
Lecky  tells  us  were  the  wretched  beasts  then  to  be 
found  in  the  Scottish  Highlands. 

Hogs  received  even  less  care  than  cattle  and  ran 
half  wild  in  the  woods  like  their  successors,  the 
famous  Southern  razor-backs  of  to-day,  being  fed 
only  a  short  period  before  they  were  to  be  trans 
formed  into  pork.  Says  Parkinson : 

"The  real  American  hog  is  what  is  termed  the 
wood-hog :  they  are  long  in  the  leg,  narrow  on  the 
back,  short  in  the  body,  flat  on  the  sides,  with  a  long 
snout,  very  rough  in  their  hair,  in  make  more  like  a 
fish  called  a  perch  than  anything  I  can  describe.  You 
may  as  well  think  of  stopping  a  crow  as  those  hogs. 
Jhey  will  go  a  distance  from  a  fence,  take  a  run, 
and  leap  through  the  rails,  three  or  four  feet  from 
the  ground,  turning  themselves  sidewise.  These  hogs 
suffer  such  hardships  as  no  other  animal  could  en- 
idure.  *It  is  customary  to  keep  them  in  the  woods  all 
winter,  as  there  is  no  thrashing  or  fold-yards;  and 
they  must  live  on  the  roots  of  trees,  or  something 
of  that  sort,  but  they  are  poor  beyond  any  creature 
that  I  ever  saw.  That  is  probably  the  cause  why 


58    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

American  pork  is  so  fine.  They  are  something  like 
forest-sheep.  I  am  not  certain,  with  American  keep 
ing  and  treatment,  if  they  be  not  the  best:  for  I 
never  saw  an  animal  live  without  food,  except  this ; 
and  I  am  pretty  sure  they  nearly  do  that.  When 
they  are  fed,  the  flesh  may  well  be  sweet :  it  is  all 
young,  though  the  pig  be  ten  years  old." 

"The  aim  of  the  farmers  in  this  country  (if  they 
can  be  called  farmers)/'  wrote  Washington  to  Ar 
thur  Young  in  1791,  "is,  not  to  make  the  most  they 
can  from  the  land,  which  is  or  has  been  cheap,  but 
the  most  of  the  labour,  which  is  dear;  the  conse 
quence  of  which  has  been,  much  ground  has  been 
scratched  over  and  none  cultivated  or  improved  as  it 
ought  to  have  been:  whereas  a  farmer  in  England, 
where  land  is  dear,  and  labour  cheap,  finds  it  his  in 
terest  to  improve  and  cultivate  highly,  that  he  may 
reap  large  crops  from  a  small  quantity  of  ground." 

No  clearer  statement  of  the  differences  between 
American  and  European  agriculture  has  ever  been 
formulated.  Down  to  our  own  day  the  object  of  the 
American  farmer  has  continued  to  be  the  same — 
to  secure  the  largest  return  from  the  expenditure  of 
a  given  amount  of  labor.  But  we  are  on  the  thresh 
old  of  a  revolution,  the  outcome  of  which  means 


VIRGINIA  AGRICULTURE  59 

intensive  cultivation  and  the  realization  of  the  larg 
est  possible  return  from  a  given  amount  of  land. 

That  Washington  saw  the  distinction  so  clearly 
is  of  itself  sufficient  proof  that  he  pondered  long  and 
deeply  upon  agricultural  problems. 


CHAPTER  IV 


WASHINGTON'S  PROBLEM 


O  ESTATE  in  United  America,"  wrote 
Washington  to  Arthur  Young  in  1793,  "is 
more  pleasantly  situated  than  this.  It  lies  in  a  high, 
dry,  and  healthy  country,  300  miles  by  water  from 
the  sea,  and,  as  you  will  see  by  the  plan,  on  one  of 
the  finest  rivers  in  the  world.  Its  margin  is  washed 
by  more  than  ten  miles  of  tide  water;  from  the  beds 
of  which  and  the  innumerable  coves,  inlets,  and 
small  marshes,  with  which  it  abounds,  an  inexhausti 
ble  fund  of  mud  may  be  drawn  as  a  manure,  either 
to  be  used  separately  or  in  a  compost.  .  .  . 

"The  soil  of  the  tract  of  which  I  am  speaking  is 
a  good  loam,  more  inclined,  however,  to  clay  th&n 
sand.  From  use,  and  I  might  add,  abuse,  it  is  be 
come  more  and  more  consolidated,  and  of  course 
heavier  to  work.  .  .  . 

"This  river,  which  encompasses  the  land  the  dis 
tance  above  mentioned,  is  well  supplied  with  vari- 

60 


WASHINGTON'S   PROBLEM  61 

ous  kinds  of  fish  at  all  seasons  of  the  year;  and,  in 
the  spring,  with  great  profusion  of  shad,  herring, 
bass,  carp,  perch,  sturgeon,  etc.  Several  fisheries  ap 
pertain  to  the  estate;  the  whole  shore,  in  short,  is 
'one  entire  fishery." 

The  Mount  Vernon  estate,  amounting  in  the  end 
to  over  eight  thousand  acres,  was,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  a  few  outlying  tracts,  subdivided  into  five 
farms,  namely,  the  Mansion  House  Farm,  the 
Union  Farm,  the  Dogue  Run  Farm,  Muddy  Hole 
Farm  and  the  River  Farm. 

On  the  Mansion  House  Farm  stood  the  owner's 
residence,  quarters  for  the  negroes  and  other  serv 
ants  engaged  upon  that  particular  estate,  and  other 
buildings.  The  land  in  general  was  badly  broken 
and  poor  in  quality;  much  of  it  was  still  in  wood 
land. 

The  River  Farm  lay  farthest  up  the  Potomac,  be 
ing  separated  from  the  others  by  the  stream  known 
as  Little  Hunting  Creek.  Visitors  to  Mount  Vernon 
to-day,  traveling  by  trolley,  cross  this  farm  and 
stream.  It  contained  more  tillable  ground  than  any 
other,  about  twelve  hundred  acres.  In  1793  it  had 
an  "overlooker's"  house  of  one  large  and  two  small 
rooms  below  and  one  or  two  rooms  above,  quarters 


62     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

for  fifty  or  sixty  negroes,  a  large  barn  and  stables 
gone  much  to  decay. 

Muddy  Hole  Farm  lay  across  Little  Hunting 
Creek  from  the  River  Farm  and  back  of  the  Man 
sion  House  Farm  and  had  no  frontal  upon  the  Po 
tomac.  It  contained  four  hundred  seventy-six  acres 
of  tillable  soil  and  had  in  1793  a  small  overlooker's 
house,  "covering  for  about  30  negroes,  and  a  toler 
able  good  barn,  with  stables  for  the  work-horses.5* 

Union  Farm  lay  just  below  the  Mansion  House 
Farm  and  contained  nine  hundred  twenty-eight 
acres  of  arable  land  and  meadow.  In  1793  it  had, 
in  Washington's  words,  "a  newly  erected  brick  barn, 
equal,  perhaps,  to  any  in  America,  and  for  conveni 
ences  of  all  sorts,  particularly  for  sheltering  and 
feeding  horses,  cattle,  &c.  scarcely  to  be  exceeded 
any  where."  A  new  house  of  four  rooms  was  build 
ing,  and  there  were  quarters  for  fifty  odd  negroes. 
On  this  farm  was  the  old  Posey  fishery  and  ferry 
to  Maryland. 

Dogue  Run  Farm,  of  six  hundred  fifty  acres,  lay 
back  of  Union  Farm  and  upon  it  in  1793  stood  the 
grist  mill  and  later  a  distillery  and  the  famous  six 
teen-sided  "new  circular  barn,  now  finishing  on  a 
new  construction ;  well  calculated,  it  is  conceived,  for 


<??  7^  s&z^.  ^    «^*"^>    ^  «,  Q^eU^ 


:'j$'      r^     W ••.'*:.' '..;.'',},••>'*'*''*•.*'",•  '*••''**'  '•'!*'! 

*  f  f    1   V •*.'.'  .  >-V*'  ',  ••*..  •'      ','  >••  • :    .*«'s 


:-:,:-'v:,--:',  H: 

-',» *'-.>''*»'**  ''iiv/'i!  ''- 

i'  •  .,••'  "/  ;/*y/.»;   - 


f 

t 

>i^ 

\\ 


^feltri 


•''",'- .'  *« 

• . » •  *" '  *' * ' 
»','.''  «*• 

•*»  •*' 


\ 


\ 


Map  of  Mount  Vernon  Drawn  by  Washing 


i-f  < 


i    MorxT  VKKX 

-^    rtroz 
.  //>  «^  r*«  /—  »;««fc/4 


Sent  by   Him   to  Arthur   Young  in   1793 


WASHINGTON'S    PROBLEM  63 

getting  grain  out  of  the  straw  more  expeditiously* 
than  the  usual  mode  of  threshing."  It  had  a  two- 
room  overseer's  house,  covering  for  forty  odd  ne 
groes,  and  sheds  sufficient  for  thirty  work  horses 
and  oxen.  Washington  considered  it  much  the  best 
of  all  his  farms.  It  was  this  farm  that  he  bequeathed 
to  Nelly  Custis  and  her  husband,  Lawrence  Lewis, 
and  upon  it  they  erected  "Woodlawn,"  which  is 
shown  in  the  photograph  herewith  reproduced. 

Not  long  since  I  rambled  on  foot  over  the  old 
estate  and  had  an  opportunity  to  compare  the  real 
ity,  or  what  remains  of  it,  with  Washington's  de 
scription.  I  left  the  Mansion  House,  often  visited 
before,  and  strolled  down  the  long  winding  drive 
that  runs  between  the  stunted  evergreens  and  oaks 
through  the  old  lodge  gate  and  passed  from  the  do 
main,  kept  trim  and  parklike  by  the  Association,  out 
upon  the  unkempt  and  vastly  greater  part  of  the  old 
Mount  Vernon. 

It  was  early  morning,  about  the  hour  when  in  the 
long  past  the  master  of  the  estate  used  to  ride  out 
on  his  tour  of  inspection.  The  day  was  one  of  those 
delicious  days  in  early  autumn  when  earth  and  sky 
and  air  and  all  things  in  nature  seem  kindly  allied 
to  help  the  heart  of  man  leap  up  in  gladness  and  to 


64     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

enable  him  to  understand  how  there  came  to  be  a 
poet  called  Wordsworth.  Meadow-larks  were  sing 
ing  in  the  grass,  and  once  in  an  old  hedgerow  over 
grown  with  sweet-smelling  wild  honeysuckle  I  saw  a 
covey  of  young  quails.  These  hedgerows  of  locust 
and  cedar  are  broken  now,  but  along  the  old  road 
to  the  mill  and  Pohick  Church  and  between  fields  tlie 
scattered  trees  and  now  and  then  a  bordering  ditch 
are  evidences  of  the  old  owner's  handiwork. 

Then  and  later  I  visited  all  the  farms,  the  site  of 
the  old  mill,  of  which  only  a  few  stones  remain,  the 
mill  stream,  the  fishery  and  old  ferry  landing.  I 
walked  across  the  gullied  fields  and  examined  the 
soil,  I  noted  the  scanty  crops  they  bear  to-day  and 
gained  a  clearer  idea  of  what  Washington's  problem 
had  been  than  I  could  have  done  from  a  library  of 
books. 

Truly  the  estate  is  "pleasantly  situated,"  though 
even  to-day  it  seems  out  of  the  world  and  out  of  the 
way.  One  must  go  far  to  find  so  satisfying  a  view 
as  that  from  the  old  Mansion  House  porch  across 
the  mile  of  shining  water  to  the  Maryland  hills 
crowned  with  trees  glorified  by  the  Midas-touch  of 
frost.  The  land  does  lie  "high"  and  "dry,"  but  we 
must  take  exception  to  the  word  "healthy."  In  the 


WASHINGTON'S    PROBLEM  65 

summer  and  fall  the  tidal  marshes  breed  a  variety 
of  mosquito  capable  of  biting  through  armor  plate 
and  of  infecting  the  devil  himself  with  malaria.  In 
the  General's  day,  when  screens  were  unknown,  a 
large  part  of  the  population,  both  white  and  black, 
suffered  every  August  and  September  from  chills 
and  fever.  The  master  himself  was  not  exempt  and 
once  we  find  him  chronicling  that  he  went  a-hunting 
and  caught  a  fox  and  the  ague. 

What  he  says  as  regards  the  fisheries  is  all  quite 
true  and  in  general  they  seem  to  have  been  very  pro 
ductive.  Herring  and  shad  were  the  chief  fish  caught 
and  when  the  run  came  the  seine  was  carried  well 
out  into  the  river  in  a  boat  and  then  hauled  up  on 
the  shelving  beach  either  by  hand  or  with  a  windlass 
operated  by  horse-power.  There  were  warehouses 
and  vats  for  curing  the  fish,  a  cooper  shop  and  build 
ings  for  sheltering  the  men.  The  fish  were  salted 
down  for  the  use  of  the  family  and  the  slaves,  and 
what  surplus  remained  was  sold.  Now  and  then  the 
landing  and  outfit  was  rented  out  for  a  money  con 
sideration,  but  this  usually  happened  only  when  the 
owner  was  away  from  home. 

At  the  old  Posey  fishery  on  Union  Farm  the  in 
dustry  is  still  carried  on,  though  gasoline  engines 


66     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

have  been  substituted  for  the  horse-operated  winch 
used  in  drawing  the  seines.  Lately  the  industry 
has  ceased  to  be  very  productive,  and  an  old  man 
in  charge  told  me  that  it  is  because  fishermen  down 
the  river  and  in  Chesapeake  Bay  are  so  active  that 
comparatively  few  fish  manage  to  get  up  so  far. 

The  Mount  Vernon  estate  in  the  old  days  lacked 
only  one  quality  necessary  to  make  it  extremely 
productive,  namely,  rich  soil!  Only  ignorance  of 
what  good  land  really  is,  or  an  owner's  blind  pride 
in  his  own  estate,  can  justify  the  phrase  "a  good 
loam."  On  most  of  the  estate  the  soil  is  thin,  vary 
ing  in  color  from  a  light  gray  to  a  yellow  red,  with 
below  a  red  clay  hardpan  almost  impervious  to  wa 
ter.  To  an  observer  brought  up  on  a  farm  of  the 
rich  Middle  West,  Mount  Vernon,  except  for  a  few 
scattered  fields,  seems  extremely  poor  land.  For 
farming  purposes  most  of  it  would  be  high  at  thirty 
dollars  an  acre.  Much  of  it  is  so  broken  by  steep 
hills  and  deep  ravines  as  scarcely  to  be  tillable  at  all. 
Those  tracts  which  are  cultivated  are  very  suscepti 
ble  to  erosion.  Deep  gullies  are  quickly  worn  on  the 
hillsides  and  slopes.  At  one  time  such  a  gully  on 
Union  Farm  extended  almost  completely  across  a 
large  field  and  was  deep  enough  to  hide  a  horse,  but 


WASHINGTON'S    PROBLEM  67 

Washington  filled  it  up  with  trees,  stumps,  stones, 
old  rails,  brush  and  dirt,  so  that  scarcely  a  trace  of 
it  was  left.  In  places  one  comes  upon  old  fields  that 
have  been  allowed  to  revert  to  broom  sedge,  scrub 
oak  and  scrub  pine.  One  is  astonished  at  the  amount 
that  has  never  been  cleared  at  all.  Only  by  the  most 
careful  husbandry  could  such  an  estate  be  kept  pro 
ductive.  It  never  could  be  made  to  yield  bumper 
crops. 

The  situation  confronting  "Farmer  Washington" 
was  this:  He  had  a  great  abundance  of  land,  but 
most  of  it  on  his  home  estate  was  mediocre  in  qual 
ity.  Some  of  that  lying  at  a  distance  was  more  fer 
tile,  but  much  of  it  was  uncleared  and  that  on  the 
Ohio  was  hopelessly  distant  from  a  market.  With 
the  exception  of  Mount  Vernon  even  those  planta 
tions  in  Virginia  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  could  not 
be  looked  after  in  person.  He  must  either  rent  them, 
trust  them  to  a  manager,  or  allow  them  to  lie  idle. 
Even  the  Mount  Vernon  land  was  distant  from  a 
good  market,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  was  so 
great  that  he  must  produce  for  selling  purposes  ar 
ticles  of  little  bulk  compared  with  value.  Finally,  he 
had  an  increasing  number  of  slaves  for  whom  food 
and  clothing  must  be  provided. 


68    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

His  answer  to  the  problem  of  a  money  crop  was 
for  some  years  the  old  Virginia  answer — tobacco. 
His  far  western  lands  he  left  for  the  most  part  un- 
tenanted.  Those  plantations  in  settled  regions  but 
remote  from  his  home  he  generally  rented  for  a 
share  of  the  crop  or  for  cash.  The  staple  article:; 
that  he  produced  to  feed  the  slaves  were  pork  and 
corn,  eked  out  by  herring  from  the  fishery. 

From  his  accounts  we  find  that  in  1759  he  made 
thirty- four  thousand  one  hundred  sixty  pounds  of 
tobacco;  the  next  year  sixty-five  thousand  thirty- 
seven  pounds;  in  1763,  eighty-nine  thousand  seven 
ty-nine  pounds,  which  appears  to  have  been  his  ban 
ner  tobacco  crop.  In  1765  the  quantity  fell  to  forty- 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  ninety-nine  pounds ;  in 
1771,  to  twenty-nine  thousand  nine  hundred  eighty- 
six  pounds,  and  in  1773  to  only  about  five  thousand 
pounds.  Thereafter  his  crop  of  the  weed  was  neg 
ligible,  though  we  still  find  occasional  references  to 
it  even  as  late  as  1794,  when  he  states  that  he  has 
twenty-five  hogsheads  in  the  warehouses  of  Alex 
andria,  where  he  has  held  it  for  five  or  six  years 
because  of  low  prices. 

He  tried  to  raise  a  good  quality  and  seems  to  have 


Looking  across  part  of  Dogue  Run  Farm  to  "Woodlawn,"'  the 
Home  of  Xellv  Custis  Lewis 


Gully  on  a  Field  of  Union  Farm,  Showing  Susceptibility  to  Erosion 


WASHINGTON'S    PROBLEM  69 

concentrated  on  what  he  calls  the  "sweet  scented" 
variety,  but  for  some  reason,  perhaps  because  his 
soil  was  not  capable  of  producing  the  best,  he  ob 
tained  lower  prices  than  did  some  of  the  other  Vir 
ginia  planters,  and  grumbled  at  his  agents  accord 
ingly. 

He  early  realized  the  ruinous  effects  of  tobacco 
on  his  land  and  sought  to  free  himself  from  its 
clutches  by  turning  to  the  production  of  wheat  and 
flour  for  the  West  India  market.  Ultimately  he  was 
so  prejudiced  against  the  weed  that  in  1789  we  find 
him  in  a  contract  with  a  tenant  named  Gray,  to 
whom  he  leased  a  tract  of  land  for  ten  pounds,  stip 
ulating  that  Gray  should  make  no  more  tobacco  than 
he  needed  for  "chewing  and  smoaking  in  his  own 
family." 

Late  in  life  he  decided  that  his  land  was  not  con-, 
genial  to  corn,  in  which  he  was  undoubtedly  right, 
for  the  average  yield  was  only  about  fifteen  bushels 
per  acre.  In  the  corn  country  farmers  now  often 
produce  a  hundred.  He  continued  to  raise  corn  only 
because  it  was  essential  for  his  negroes  and  hogs. 
In  1798  he  contracted  with  William  A.  Washington 
to  supply  him  with  five  hundred  barrels  annually  to 


70     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

eke  out  his  own  crop.  Even  this  quantity  did  not 
prove  sufficient,  for  we  find  him  next  year  trying 
to  engage  one  hundred  barrels  more. 

Before  this  time  his  main  concern  had  come  to 
be  to  conserve  his  soil  and  he  had  turned  his  atten 
tion  largely  to  grass  and  live  stock.  Of  these  mat 
ters  more  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  STUDENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

WASHINGTON  took  great  pains  to  inform 
himself  concerning  any  subject  in  which  he 
was  interested  and  hardly  was  he  settled  down  to 
serious  farming  before  he  was  ordering  from  Eng 
land  "the  best  System  now  extant  of  Agriculture." 
Shortly  afterward  he  expressed  a  desire  for  a  book 
"lately  published,  done  by  various  hands,  but  chiefly 
collected  from  the  papers  of  Mr.  Hale.  If  this  is 
known  to  be  the  best,  pray  send  it,  but  not  if  any 
other  is  in  high  esteem."  Another  time  he  inquires 
for  a  small  piece  in  octavo,  "a  new  system  of  Agri 
culture,  or  a  speedy  way  to  grow  rich." 

Among  his  papers  are  preserved  long  and  detailed 
notes  laboriously  taken  from  such  works  as  Tull's 
Horse-Hoeing  Husbandry,  Duhamel's  A  Practical 
Treatise  of  Husbandry,  The  Farmer's  Compleat 
Guide,  Home's  The  Gentleman  Farmer,  and  volumes 
of  Young's  Annals  of  Agriculture. 

71 


72    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

The  abstracts  from  the  'Annals  were  taken  after 
the  Revolution  and  probably  before  he  became  Pres 
ident,  for  the  first  volume  did  not  appear  until  1784. 
From  the  handwriting  it  is  evident  that  the  digests 
of  Tull's  and  Duhamel's  books  were  made  before  the 
Revolution  and  probably  about  1760.  In  the  midst 
of  the  notes  on  chapter  eight  of  the  Compleat  Guide 
there  are  evidences  of  a  long  hiatus  in  time — Mr. 
Fitzpatrick  of  the  manuscript  division  of  the  Li 
brary  of  Congress  thinks  perhaps  as  much  as  eight 
or  ten  years.  A  vivid  imagination  can  readily  con 
ceive  Washington's  laying  aside  the  task  for  the 
more  important  one  of  vindicating  the  liberties  of 
his  countrymen  and  taking  it  up  again  only  when  he 
had  sheathed  the  sword.  But  all  we  can  say  is  that 
for  some  reason  he  dropped  the  work  for  a  consid 
erable  time,  the  evidence  being  that  the  later  hand 
writing  differs  perceptibly  from  that  which  precedes 
it. 

As  most  of  Washington's  agricultural  ideas  were 
drawn  from  these  books,  it  is  worth  while  for  us  to 
examine  them.  I  have  not  been  able  to  put  my  hands 
on  Washington's  own  copies,  but  in  the  library  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  I  have  examined  the 
works  of  Tull,  Duhamel  and  Young. 


THE  STUDENT  OF  AGRICULTURE    73 

Tull's  Horse-Hoeing  Husbandry  was  an  epoch- 
making  book  in  the  history  of  English  agriculture. 
It  was  first  published  in  1731  and  the  third  edition, 
the  one  I  have  seen  and  probably  the  one  that  Wash 
ington  possessed,  appeared  in  1751.  Possibly  it  was 
the  small  piece  in  octavo,  "a  new  system  of  Agricul 
ture,  or  a  speedy  way  to  grow  rich"  concerning 
which  he  wrote  to  his  agent.  It  deals  with  a  great 
variety  of  subjects,  such  as  of  roots  and  leaves,  of 
food  of  plants,  of  pasture,  of  plants,  of  weeds,  of 
turnips,  of  wheat,  of  smut,  of  blight,  of  St.  Foin, 
of  lucerne,  of  ridges,  of  plows,  of  drill  boxes,  but 
its  one  great  thesis  was  the  careful  cultivation  by 
plowing  of  such  annuals  as  potatoes,  turnips,  and 
wheat,  crops  which  hitherto  had  been  tended  by  hand 
or  left  to  fight  their  battle  unaided  after  having 
once  been  planted. 

Duhamel's  book  was  the  work  of  a  Frenchman 
whose  last  name  was  Monceau.  It  was  based  in  part 
upon  Tull's  book,  but  contained  many  reflections 
suggested  by  French  experience  as  well  as  some  ad 
ditions  made  by  the  English  translator.  The  Eng 
lish  translation  appeared  in  1759,  the  year  of  Wash 
ington's  marriage.  It  dealt  with  almost  every  aspect 
of  agriculture  and  stock  raising,  advocated  horse- 


74    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

hoeing,  had  much  to  say  in  favor  of  turnips,  lucerne, 
clover  and  such  crops,  and  contained  plates  and  de 
scriptions  of  various  plows,  drills  and  other  kinds  of 
implements.  It  also  contained  a  detailed  table  of 
weather  observations  for  a  considerable  time,  which 
may  have  given  Washington  the  idea  of  keeping  his 
meteorological  records. 

Young's  Annals  was  an  elaborate  agricultural 
periodical  not  unlike  in  some  respects  publications 
of  this  sort  to-day  except  for  its  lack  of  advertising. 
It  contains  records  of  a  great  variety  of  experiments 
in  both  agriculture  and  stock  raising,  pictures  and 
descriptions  of  plows,  machines  for  rooting  up 
trees,  and  other  implements  and  machines,  plans  for 
the  rotation  of  crops,  and  articles  and  essays  by  ex 
perimental  farmers  of  the  day.  Among  its  contribu 
tors  were  men  of  much  eminence,  and  we  come  upon 
articles  by  Mr.  William  Pitt  on  storing  turnips,  Mr. 
William  Pitt  on  deep  plowing;  George  III  himself 
contributed  under  the  pen  name  of  "Ralph  Robin 
son."  The  man  who  should  follow  its  directions 
even  to-day  would  not  in  most  matters  go  far  wrong. 

As  one  looks  over  these  publications  he  realizes 
that  the  scientific  farmers  of  that  day  were  discuss 
ing  many  problems  and  subjects  that  still  interest 


THE  STUDENT  OF  AGRICULTURE    75 

those  of  the  present.  The  language  is  occasionally 
quaint,  but  the  principles  set  down  are  less  often 
wrong  than  might  be  supposed.  To  be  sure,  Tull  de 
nied  that  different  plants  require  different  sorts  of 
food  and,  notes  Washington,  "gives  many  unanswer 
able  Reasons  to  prove  it,"  but  he  combats  the  notion 
that  the  soil  ever  causes  wheat  to  degenerate  into 
rye.  This  he  declares  "as  ridiculous  as  it  would  be 
to  say  that  an  horse  by  feeding  in  a  certain  pasture 
will  degenerate  into  a  Bull."  And  yet  it  is  not  diffi 
cult  to  discover  farmers  to-day  who  will  stubbornly 
argue  that  "wheat  makes  cheat."  Tull  also  advo 
cated  the  idea  that  manure  should  be  put  on  green 
and  plowed  under  in  order  to  obtain  anything  like 
its  full  benefit,  as  well  as  many  other  sound  ideas 
that  are  still  disregarded  by  many  American  farm 
ers. 

Washington  eagerly  studied  the  works  that  have 
been  mentioned,  and  much  of  his  time  when  at 
Mount  Vernon  was  devoted  to  experiments  designed 
to  ascertain  to  what  extent  the  principles  that  were 
sound  in  England  could  be  successfully  applied  in  an 
American  environment. 


CHAPTER  VI 
X  FARMER'S  RECORDS  AND  OTHER  PAPERS 

WASHINGTON  was  the  most  methodical 
man  that  ever  lived.  He  had  a  place  for 
everything  and  insisted  that  everything  should  be 
kept  in  its  place.  There  was  nothing  haphazard 
about  his  methods  of  business.  He  kept  exact  ac 
counts  of  financial  dealings. 

His  habit  of  setting  things  down  on  paper  was  one 
that  developed  early.  He  kept  a  journal  of  his  sur 
veying  experiences  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  in  1748, 
another  of  his  trip  to  Barbadoes  with  his  brother 
Lawrence  in  1751-52,  another  of  his  trip  to  Fort  Le 
Bceuf  to  warn  out  the  French,  and  yet  another  of 
his  Fort  Necessity  campaign.  The  words  are  often 
misspelled,  many  expressions  are  ungrammatical, 
but  the  handwriting  is  good  and  the  judgments  ex 
pressed,  even  those  set  down  when  he  was  only  six 
teen,  are  the  mature  judgments  of  a  man. 

A  year  after  his  marriage  he  began  a  formal 
diary,  which  he  continued  until  June  19,  1775,  the 

76 


A   FARMER'S    RECORDS  77 

time  of  his  appointment  to  command  the  army  of 
the  Revolution.  He  called  it  his  Diary  and  later 
Where,  &  how  my  time  is  Spent.  In  it  he  entered 
the  happenings  of  the  day,  his  agricultural  and  other 
experiments,  a  record  of  his  guests  and  also  a  de 
tailed  account  of  the  weather. 

His  attention  to  this  last  matter  was  most  particu 
lar.  Often  when  away  from  home  he  would  have  a 
record  kept  and  on  his  return  would  incorporate  it 
into  his  book.  Exactly  what  advantages  he  expected 
to  derive  therefrom  are  not  apparent,  though  I  pre 
sume  that  he  hoped  to  draw  conclusions  as  to  the 
best  time  for  planting  crops.  In  reading  it  I  was 
many  times  reminded  of  a  Cleveland  octogenarian 
who  for  fifty-seven  years  kept  a  record  twice  a  day 
of  the  thermometer  and  barometer.  Near  the  end 
of  his  life  he  brought  the  big  ledgers  to  the  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society,  and  I  happened  to  be 
present  on  the  occasion.  "You  have  studied  the  sub 
ject  for  a  long  time,"  I  said  to  him.  "Are  there  any 
conclusions  you  have  been  able  to  reach  as  a  result 
of  your  investigation?"  He  thought  a  minute  and 
passed  a  wrinkled  hand  across  a  wrinkled  brow. 
"Nothing  but  this,"  he  made  answer,  "that  Cleve 
land  weather  is  only  constant  in  its  inconstancy." 


78     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

We  would  gladly  exchange  some  of  these  meteoro 
logical  details  for  further  information  about  Wash 
ington's  own  personal  doings  and  feelings.  Of  the 
latter  the  diaries  reveal  little.  Washington  was  an 
objective  man,  above  all  in  his  papers.  He  sets  down 
what  happens  and  says  little  about  causes,  motives 
or  mental  impressions.  When  on  his  way  to  York- 
town  to  capture  Cornwallis  he  visited  his  home  for 
the  first  time  in  six  weary  years,  yet  merely  re 
corded  :  "I  reached  my  own  Seat  at  Mount  Vernon 
(distant  120  Miles  from  the  Hd.  of  Elk)  where  I 
staid  till  the  12th." 

Not  a  word  of  the  emotions  which  that  visit  must 
have  roused! 

For  almost  six  years  after  1775  there  is  a  gap  in 
the  diary,  though  for  some  months  of  1780  he  sets 
down  the  weather.  On  May  1,  1781,  he  begins  a  new 
record,  which  he  calls  a  Journal,  and  he  expresses 
regret  that  he  has  not  had  time  to  keep  one  all  the 
time.  The  subjects  now  considered  are  almost 
wholly  military  and  the  entries  reveal  a  different 
man  from  that  of  1775.  The  grammar  is  better,  the 
vocabulary  larger,  the  tone  more  elevated,  the  man 
himself  is  bigger  and  broader  with  an  infinitely 
wider  view-point. 


A    FARMER'S    RECORDS  79 

From  November  5,  1781,  for  more  than  three 
years  there  is  another  blank,  except  for  the  journal 
of  his  trip  to  his  western  lands  already  referred  to. 
But  on  January  1,  1785,  he  begins  a  new  Diary  and 
thenceforward  continues  it,  with  short  intermis 
sions,  until  the  day  of  his  last  ride  over  his  estate. 

A  few  of  the  diaries  and  journals  have  been  lost, 
but  most  are  still  in  existence.  Some  are  in  the  Con 
gressional  Library  and  there  also  is  the  Toner  tran 
script  of  these  records.  The  transcript  makes  thirty- 
seven  large  volumes.  The  diary  is  one  of  the  main 
sources  from  which  the  material  for  this  book  is 
drawn. 

The  original  of  the  record  of  events  for  1760  is 
a  small  book,  perhaps  eight  or  ten  inches  long  by 
four  inches  wide  and  much  yellowed  by  age.  Part 
of  the  first  entry  stands  thus : 

"January  1,  Tuesday 

"Visited  my  Plantations  and  received  an  Instance 
of  Mr.  French's  great  Love  of  Money  in  disappoint 
ing  me  of  some  Pork  because  the  price  had  risen  to 
22.6  after  he  had  engaged  to  let  me  have  it  at  20  s." 

On  his  return  from  his  winter  ride  he  found  Mrs. 
Washington  "broke  out  with  the  Meazles."  Next 


80    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

day  he  states  with  evident  disgust  that  he  has  taken 
the  pork  on  French's  own  terms. 

The  weather  record  for  1760  was  kept  on  blank 
pages  of  The  Virginia  Almanac,  a  compendium  that 
contains  directions  for  making  "Indico,"  for  curing 
bloody  flux,  for  making  "Physick  as  pleasant  as  a 
Dish  of  Chocolate,"  for  making  a  striking  sun-dial, 
also  "A  Receipt  to  keep  one's  self  warm  a  whole 
Winter  with  a  single  Billet  of  Wood."  To  do  this 
last  "Take  a  Billet  of  Wood  of  a  competent  Size, 
fling  it  out  of  the  Garret- Window  into  the  Yard,  run 
down  Stairs  as  hard  as  ever  you  can  drive;  and 
when  you  have  got  it,  run  up  again  with  it  at  the 
same  Measure  of  Speed;  and  thus  keep  throwing 
down,  and  fetching  up,  till  the  Exercise  shall  have 
sufficiently  heated  you.  This  renew  as  often  as  Oc 
casion  shall  require.  Probatum  est" 

This  receipt  would  seem  worth  preserving  in  this 
day  of  dear  fuel.  As  Washington  had  great  abund 
ance  of  wood  and  plenty  of  negroes  to  cut  it,  he 
probably  did  not  try  the  experiment — at  least  such  a 
conclusion  is  w~nat  writers  on  historical  method 
would  call  "a  safe  inference." 

There  is  in  the  almanac  a  rhyme  ridiculing  phy- 


Y-c 


*     £*t 


First   Page   of   Washington's    Digest   of   Duhamel's    Husbandry 


A   FARMER'S    RECORDS  81 

sicians  and  above  the  March  calendar  are  printed  the 
touching  verses : 

"Thus  of  all  Joy  and  happiness  bereft, 
And  with  the  Charge  of  Ten  poor  Children  left : 
A  greater  Grief  no  Woman  sure  can  know, 
Who, — with  Ten   Children — who  will  have  me 
now." 

Also  there  are  some  other  verses,  very  broad  and 
"not  quite  the  proper  thing,"  as  Kipling  has  it.  But 
it  must  not  be  inferred  that  Washington  approved  of 
them. 

Washington  also  kept  cash  memorandum  books, 
general  account  books,  mill  books  and  a  special  book 
in  which  he  recorded  his  accounts  with  the  estate  of 
the  Custis  children.  These  old  books,  written  in  his 
neat  legible  hand,  are  not  only  one  of  our  chief 
sources  of  information  concerning  his  agricultural 
and  financial  affairs,  but  contain  many  sidelights 
upon  historical  events.  It  is  extremely  interesting, 
for  example,  to  discover  in  one  of  the  account 
books  that  in  1775  at  Mount  Vernon  he  lent  General 
Charles  Lee — of  Monmouth  fame — £15,  and  "to 
Ditto  lent  him  on  the  Road  from  Phila  to  Cambridge 


82    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

at  different  times"  £9.12  more,  a  total  of  £24.12.  In 
later  years  Lee  intrigued  against  Washington  and 
said  many  spiteful  things  about  him,  but  he  never 
returned  the  loan.  The  account  stood  until  1786, 
when  it  was  settled  by  Alexander  White,  Lee's  ex 
ecutor. 

In  the  Cash  Memorandum  books  we  can  trace 
Washington's  military  preparations  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution.  Thus  on  June  2,  1775,  being  then 
at  Philadelphia,  he  enters:  "By  Expences  bringing 
my  Horses  from  Baltimore,"  £2.5.  Next  day  he 
pays  thirty  pounds  for  "Cartouch  Boxes  &c.  for 
Prince  Wm.  Comp."  June  6,  "By  Covering  my 
Holsters,"  £0.7.6;  "By  a  Cersingle,"  £0.7.6;  "By  5 
Books — Military,"  £1.12.0.  He  was  preparing  for 
Gage  and  Howe  and  Cornwallis  and  whether  the 
knowledge  contained  in  the  books  was  of  value  or 
not  he  somehow  managed  for  eight  years  to  hold 
his  opponents  at  bay  and  ultimately  to  win.  At  Cam 
bridge,  July  tenth,  he  spends  three  shillings  and  four 
pence  for  a  "Ribbon  to  distinguish  myself,"  that  is 
to  show  his  position  as  commander;  also  £1.2.6.  for 
"a  pair  of  Breeches  for  Will,"  his  colored  body 
servant. 

A  vast  number  of  papers  bear  witness  to  his  in- 


A   FARMER'S    RECORDS  83 

terest  in  agriculture  and  with  these  we  are  particu 
larly  concerned.  He  preserved  most  of  the  letters 
written  to  him  and  many  of  these  deal  with  farming 
matters.  During  part  of  his  career  he  had  a  copying 
press  and  kept  copies  of  his  own  important  letters, 
while  many  of  the  originals  have  been  preserved, 
though  widely  scattered.  When  away  from  home 
he  required  his  manager  to  send  him  elaborate 
weekly  reports  containing  a  meteorological  table  of 
each  day's  weather,  the  work  done  on  each  farm, 
what  each  person  did,  who  was  sick,  losses  and  in 
creases  in  stock,  and  other  matters  of  interest. 
Scores  of  these  reports  are  still  in  existence  and  are 
invaluable.  He  himself  wrote — generally  on  Sun 
day — lengthy  weekly  letters  of  inquiry,  direction, 
admonition  and  reproof,  and  if  the  manager  failed 
in  the  minutest  matter  to  give  an  account  of  some 
phase  of  the  farm  work,  he  would  be  sure  to  hear 
of  it  in  the  proprietor's  next  letter. 

Washington's  correspondence  on  agricultural  mat 
ters  with  Arthur  Young  and  Sir  John  Sinclair,  emi 
nent  English  agriculturists,  was  collected  soon  after 
his  death  in  a  volume  that  is  now  rare.  In  it  are  a 
number  of  letters  written  by  other  American  farm 
ers,  including  Thomas  Jefferson,  relative  to  agricul- 


84    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

ture  in  their  localities.  These  letters  were  the  result 
of  inquiries  made  of  Washington  by  Young  in  1791. 
In  order  to  obtain  the  facts  desired  Washington  sent 
out  a  circular  letter  to  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
farmers  in  the  Middle  States,  and  the  replies  form 
perhaps  our  best  source  of  information  regarding 
agricultural  conditions  in  that  period. 

Because  of  this  service  and  of  his  general  interest 
in  agricultural  matters  Washington  was  elected  a 
foreign  honorary  member  of  the  English  Board  of 
Agriculture  and  received  a  diploma,  which  is  still 
preserved  among  his  papers. 

Some  of  Washington's  other  agricultural  papers 
have  been  printed  in  one  form  and  another,  but  a 
great  number,  and  some  the  most  interesting,  can 
still  be  consulted  only  in  manuscript. 

Washington  bequeathed  his  books  and  papers, 
along  with  his  Mansion  House,  to  his  nephew, 
Bushrod  Washington,  an  associate  justice  of  the 
Federal  Supreme  Court.  Judge  Washington  failed 
to  appreciate  fully  the  seriousness  of  the  obligation 
thus  incurred  and  instead  of  safeguarding  the  pa 
pers  with  the  utmost  jealousy  gave  many,  includ 
ing  volumes  of  the  diary,  to  visitors  and  friends 
who  expressed  a  desire  to  possess  mementoes  of  the 


A   FARMER'S   RECORDS  85 

illustrious  patriot.  In  particular  he  permitted  Rev 
erend  William  Buel  Sprague,  who  had  been  a  tutor 
in  the  family  of  Nelly  Custis  Lewis,  to  take  about 
fifteen  hundred  papers  on  condition  that  he  leave 
copies  in  their  places.  The  judge  also  intrusted  a 
considerable  portion  to  the  historian  Jared  Sparks, 
who  issued  the  first  considerable  edition  of  Wash 
ington's  writings.  Sparks  likewise  was  guilty  of 
giving  away  souvenirs. 

Bushrod  Washington  died  in  1829  and  left  the 
papers  and  letter  books  for  the  most  part  to  his 
nephew  John  Corbin  Washington.  In  1834  the 
nation  purchased  of  this  gentleman  the  papers  of  a 
public  character,  paying  twenty-five  thousand  dol 
lars.  The  owner  reserved  the  private  papers,  in 
cluding  invoices,  ciphering  book,  rules  of  civility, 
etc.,  but  in  1849  sold  these  also  to  the  same  pur 
chaser  for  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  papers 
were  kept  for  many  years  in  the  Department  of 
State,  but  in  the  administration  of  Theodore  Roose 
velt  most  of  them  wrere  transferred  to  the  Library 
of  Congress,  where  they  could  be  better  cared  for 
and  would  be  more  accessible. 

Bushrod  Washington  gave  to  another  nephew, 
John  Augustine  Washington,  the  books  and  relics 


86    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

in  the  dining-room  of  the  Mansion  House.  In 
course  of  time  these  were  scattered,  some  being 
bought  for  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  which  has  de 
cidedly  the  larger  part  of  Washington's  library; 
others  were  purchased  by  the  state  of  New  York, 
and  yet  others  were  exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Ex 
position  and  were  later  sold  at  auction.  Among  the 
relics  bought  by  New  York  was  a  sword  wrongly 
said  to  have  been  sent  to  the  General  by  Frederick 
the  Great. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-seven  of  his  letters, 
mostly  to  William  Pearce,  his  manager  at  Mount 
Vernon  during  a  portion  of  his  presidency,  were 
bought  from  the  heirs  of  Pearce  by  the  celebrated 
Edward  Everett  and  now  belong  to  the  Long  Island 
Historical  Society.  These  have  been  published.  His 
correspondence  with  Tobias  Lear,  for  many  years 
his  private  secretary,  are  now  in  the  collection  of 
Thomas  K.  Bixby,  a  wealthy  bibliophile  of  St. 
Louis.  These  also  have  been  published.  The  one 
greatest  repository  of  papers  is  the  Library  of  Con 
gress.  Furthermore,  through  the  unwearying  ac 
tivities  of  J.  M.  Toner,  who  devoted  years  to  the 
work,  the  Library  also  has  authenticated  copies  of 


A   FARMER'S    RECORDS  87 

many  papers  of  which  it  does  not  possess  the  orig 
inals. 

All  told,  according  to  Mr.  Gaillard  Hunt,  who  has 
them  in  charge,  the  Washington  manuscripts  in  the 
Library  of  Congress  is  the  largest  collection  of 
papers  of  one  person  in  the  world.  The  collection 
contains  about  eighteen  thousand  papers  in  his  own 
hand,  press  copies,  or  drafts  in  the  writing  of  his 
secretaries,  and  many  times  that  number  of  others. 
As  yet  all  except  a  small  part  are  merely  arranged  in 
chronological  order,  but  soon  it  is  to  be  sumptuously 
bound  in  royal  purple  levant.  The  color,  after  all, 
is  fitting,  for  he  was  a  King  and  he  reigns  still  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

Benjamin  Franklin  knew  the  great  men  of  earth 
of  his  time,  the  princes  and  kings  of  blood  royal. 
Near  the  close  of  his  life  he  wrote  in  his  will :  "My 
fine  crabtree  walking-stick  with  a  gold  head,  curi 
ously  wrought  in  the  form  of  a  cap  of  Liberty,  I 
give  to  my  friend,  and  the  friend  of  mankind,  Gen 
eral  Washington.  If  it  was  a  sceptre,  he  has  merited 
it,  and  would  become  it." 

And  thus  Thackeray,  who  knew  the  true  from  the 
false,  the  dross  from  pure  gold:  "Which  was  the 


88    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

most  splendid  spectacle  ever  witnessed,  the  opening 
feast  of  Prince  George  in  London  or  the  resignation 
of  Washington?  Which  is  the  noble  character  for 
ages  to  admire — yon  fribble  dancing  in  lace  and 
spangles,  or  yonder  hero  who  sheathes  his  sword 
after  a  life  of  spotless  honor,  a  purity  unreproached, 
a  courage  indomitable,  and  a  consummate  victory? 
Which  of  these  is  the  true  gentleman?  What  is  it 
to  be  a  gentleman?  Is  it  to  have  lofty  aims,  to 
lead  a  pure  life,  to  keep  your  honor  virgin;  to  have 
the  esteem  of  your  fellow-citizens,  and  the  love  of 
your  fireside ;  to  bear  good  fortune  meekly ;  to  suffer 
evil  with  constancy;  and  through  evil  or  good  to 
maintain  truth  always?  Show  me  the  happy  man 
whose  life  exhibits  these  qualities,  and  him  will  we 
salute  as  gentleman,  whatever  his  rank  may  be; 
show  me  the  prince  who  possesses  them,  and  he  may 
be  sure  of  our  love  and  loyalty." 

Tis  often  distance  only  that  lends  enchantment, 
but  it  is  Washington's  proud  pre-eminence  that  he 
can  bear  the  microscope.  Having  read  thousands  of 
his  letters  and  papers  dealing  with  almost  every 
conceivable  subject  in  the  range  of  human  affairs, 
I  yet  feel  inclined,  nay  compelled,  to  bear  witness  to 
the  greatness  of  his  heart,  soul  and  understanding. 


A   FARMER'S   RECORDS  89 

He  was  human.  He  had  his  faults.  He  made  his 
mistakes.  But  I  would  not  detract  a  line  from  any 
eulogium  of  him  ever  uttered.  Words  have  never 
yet  been  penned  that  do  him  justice. 


CHAPTER  VII 

AGRICULTURAL  OPERATIONS  AND  EXPERIMENTS 
BEFORE   THE   REVOLUTION 

\  DETAILED  account  of  all  of  Washington's 
7\  agricultural  experiments  would  require  sev 
eral  hundred  pages  and  would  be  tedious  reading. 
All  that  I  shall  attempt  to  do  is  to  give  some  ex 
amples  and  point  the  way  for  any  enthusiast  to  the 
mass  of  his  agricultural  papers  in  the  Library  of 
Congress  and  elsewhere. 

At  the  outset  it  should  be  stated  that  he  worked 
under  extremely  different  conditions  from  those  of 
to-day.  Any  American  farmer  of  the  present  who 
has  a  problem  in  his  head  can  have  it  solved  by  writ 
ing  to  the  nearest  government  experiment  station, 
a  good  farm  paper,  an  agricultural  college,  the  de 
partment  of  agriculture,  or  in  some  favored  districts 
by  consulting  the  local  county  "agent."  Washing 
ton  had  no  such  recourse.  There  was  not  an  agri 
cultural  college  or  agricultural  paper  in  the  whole 

90 


AGRICULTURAL  OPERATIONS   91 

country;  the  department  of  agriculture  was  not  cre 
ated  until  near  the  end  of  the  next  century;  county 
"agents"  were  as  unthought  of  as  automobiles  or 
electric  lights;  there  was  not  a  scientific  farmer  in 
America ;  even  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Pro 
motion  of  Agriculture  was  not  founded  until  1785. 
In  his  later  years  our  Farmer  could  and  did  write  to 
such  foreign  specialists  as  Arthur  Young  and  Sir 
John  Sinclair,  but  they  were  Englishmen  unfamiliar 
with  American  soils  and  climate  and  could  rarely 
give  a  weighty  answer  propounded  to  them  by  an 
American.  If  Washington  wished  to  know  a  thing 
about  practical  farming,  he  usually  had  to  find  it  out 
for  himself. 

This  state  of  affairs  accounts  for  his  performing 
some  experiments  that  seem  absurd.  Thus  in  the  fall 
of  1764  we  find  him  sowing  "a  few  Oats  to  see  if 
they  would  stand  the  winter."  Any  country  boy  of 
to-day  could  tell  him  that  ordinary  oats  sown  under 
such  conditions  in  the  latitude  of  Mount  Vernon 
would  winter  kill  too  badly  to  be  of  much  use,  but 
Washington  could  not  know  it  till  he  had  tried. 

In  another  category  was  his  experiment  in  March, 
1760,  with  lucerne.  Lucerne  is  alfalfa.  It  will 
probably  be  news  to  most  readers  that  alfalfa — the 


92    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

wonderful  forage  crop  of  the  West,  the  producer 
of  more  gold  than  all  the  mines  of  the  Klondike- 
was  in  use  so  long  ago,  for  the  impression  is  pretty 
general  that  it  is  comparatively  new ;  the  fact  is  that 
it  is  older  than  the  Christian  era  and  that  the  name 
alfalfa  comes  from  the  Arabic  and  means  "the  best 
crop."  Evidently  our  Farmer  had  been  reading  on 
the  subject,  for  in  his  diary  he  quotes  what  "Tull 
speaking  of  lucerne,  says."  He  tried  out  the  plant 
on  this  and  several  other  occasions  and  had  a  con 
siderable  field  of  it  in  1798.  His  success  was  not 
large  with  it  at  any  time,  for  the  Mount  Vernon 
soil  was  not  naturally  suited  to  alfalfa,  which  thrives 
best  in  a  dry  and  pervious  subsoil  containing  plenty 
of  lime,  but  the  experiment  was  certainly  worth 
trying. 

In  this  same  year,  1760,  we  find  him  sowing 
clover,  rye,  grass,  hope,  trefoil,  timothy,  spelt, 
which  was  a  species  of  wheat,  and  various  other 
grasses  and  vegetables,  most  of  them  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  unknown  to  the  Virginia  agriculture 
of  that  day. 

He  also  recorded  an  interesting  experiment  with 
fertilizer.  April  14,  1760,  he  writes  in  his  diary: 

"Mixed  my  composts  in  a  box  with  the  apart- 


AGRICULTURAL  OPERATIONS  •  93 

ments  in  the  following  manner,  viz.  No.  1  is  three 
pecks  of  earth  brought  from  below  the  hill  out  of 
the  46  acre  field  without  any  mixture.  In  No.  2  is 
two  pecks  of  sand  earth  and  one  of  marie  taken  out 
of  the  said  field,  which  marie  seemed  a  little  inclined 
to  sand.  3  has  2  pecks  of  sd.  earth  and  1  of  river 
sand. 

"4  has  a  peck  of  Horse  Dung 

"5  has  mud  taken  out  of  the  creek 

"6  has  cow  dung 

"7  has  marie  from  the  Gulleys  on  the  hillside, 
jvch.  seem'd  to  be  purer  than  the  other 

"8  sheep  dung 

"9  Black  mould  from  the  Gulleys  on  the  hill  side, 
$vch.  seemd  to  be  purer  than  the  other 

"10  Clay  got  just  below  the  garden 

"All  mixed  with  the  same  quantity  and  sort  of 
earth  in  the  most  effective  manner  by  reducing  the 
whole  to  a  tolerable  degree  of  fineness  and  rubbing 
them  well  together  on  a  cloth.  In  each  of  these 
divisions  were  planted  three  grains  of  wheat,  3  of 
oats,  and  as  many  of  barley,  all  of  equal  distances 
in  Rows  and  of  equal  depth  done  by  a  machine  made 
for  the  purpose.  The  wheat  rows  are  next  the 
numbered  side,  the  oats  in  the  middle,  and  the  barley 


94    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

on  the  side  next  the  upper  part  of  the  Garden.  Two 
or  three  hours  after  sowing  in  this  manner,  and 
about  an  hour  before  sunset  I  watered  them  all 
equally  alike  with  water  that  had  been  standing  in 
a  tub  abt  two  hours  exposed  to  the  sun." 

Three  weeks  later  he  inspected  the  boxes  and  con 
cluded  that  Nos.  8  and  9  gave  the  best  results. 

The  plows  of  the  period  were  cumbersome  and 
did  their  work  poorly.  Consequently  in  March, 
1760,  Washington  "Fitted  a  two  Eyed  Plow  instead 
of  a  Duck  Bill  Plow",  and  tried  it  out,  using  his  car 
riage  horses  in  the  work.  But  this  new  model 
proved  upon  the  whole  a  failure  and  a  little  later 
he  "Spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day  in  making  a 
new  plow  of  my  own  Invention."  Next  day  he  set 
the  new  plow  to  work  "and  found  She  answerd 
very  well." 

A  little  later  he  "got  a  new  harrow  made  of 
smaller  and  closer  teethings  for  harrowing  in  grain 
— the  other  being  more  proper  for  preparing  the 
ground  for  sowing." 

Much  of  his  attention  in  the  next  few  years  was 
devoted  to  wheat  growing,  for,  as  already  related, 
he  soon  decided  gradually  to  discontinue  tobacco 
and  it  was  imperative  for  him  to  discover  some 


AGRICULTURAL  OPERATIONS   95 

other  money  crop  to  take  its  place.  We  find  him 
steeping  his  seed  wheat  in  brine  and  alum  to  pre 
vent  smut  and  he  also  tried  other  experiments  to 
protect  his  grain  from  the  Hessian  fly  and  rust. 
Noticing  how  the  freezing  and  thawing  of  the 
ground  in  spring  often  injured  the  wheat  by  lifting 
it  out  of  the  ground,  he  adopted  the  practice  of  run 
ning  a  heavy  roller  over  the  wheat  in  order  to  get 
the  roots  back  into  the  ground  and  he  was  confident 
that  when  the  operation  was  performed  at  the  proper 
time,  that  is  when  the  ground  was  soft  and  the  roots 
were  still  alive,  it  was  productive  of  good  results. 

In  June,  1763,  he  "dug  up  abt.  a  load  of  Marie 
to  spread  over  Wheat  Land  for  experiment.'*  In 
1768  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  most  farmers 
began  to  cut  their  wheat  too  late,  for  of  course 
cradling  was  a  slow  process — scarcely  four  acres 
per  day  per  cradler — and  if  the  acreage  was  large 
several  days  must  elapse  before  the  last  of  the  grain 
could  be  cut,  with  the  result  that  some  of  it  became 
so  ripe  that  many  of  the  kernels  were  shattered  out 
and  lost  before  the  straw  could  be  got  to  the  thresh 
ing  floor.  By  careful  experiments  he  determined 
that  the  grain  would  not  lose  perceptibly  in  size  and 
weight  if  the  wheat  were  cut  comparatively  green. 


96    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

In  wheat-growing  communities  the  discussion  as  to 
this  question  still  rages — extremists  on  one  side  will 
not  cut  their  wheat  till  it  is  dead  ripe,  while  those 
on  the  other  begin  to  harvest  it  when  it  is  almost 
sea-green. 

In  1763  Washington  entered  into  an  agreement 
with  John  Carlyle  and  Robert  Adams  of  Alexandria 
to  sell  to  them  all  the  wheat  he  would  have  to  dis 
pose  of  in  the  next  seven  years.  The  price  was  to 
be  three  shillings  and  nine  pence  per  bushel,  that  is, 
about  ninety-one  cents.  This  would  not  be  far  from 
the  average  price  of  wheat  to-day,  but,  on  the  one 
side,  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  ninety-one  cents 
then  had  much  greater  purchasing  power  than  now, 
so  that  the  price  was  really  much  greater,  and,  on 
the  other,  that  the  cost  of  raising  wheat  was  larger 
then,  owing  to  lack  of  self-binders,  threshing  ma 
chines  and  other  labor-saving  devices. 

The  wheat  thus  sold  by  Washington  was  to  be 
delivered  at  the  wharf  at  Alexandria  or  beside  a 
boat  or  flat  on  Four  Mile  Run  Creek.  The  delivery 
for  1764  was  257^  bushels;  for  1765,  1,112^ 
bushels;  for  1766,  2,33 1J4  bushels;  for  1767— a 
bad  year— 1,293^  bushels;  for  1768,  4,994>i  bush- 


AGRICULTURAL   OPERATIONS       97; 

els  of  wheat  and  4,304^  bushels  of  corn;  for  1769, 
6,24iy2  bushels  of  wheat. 

Thereafter  he  ground  a  good  part  of  his  wheat 
and  sold  the  flour.  He  owned  three  mills,  one  in 
western  Pennsylvania,  already  referred  to,  a  second 
on  Four  Mile  Run  near  Alexandria,  and  a  third  on 
the  Mount  Vernon  estate.  This  last  mill  had  been 
in  operation  since  his  father's  day.  It  was  situated 
near  the  mouth  of  the  stream  known  as  Dogue  Run, 
which  was  not  very  well  suited  for  the  purpose  as 
it  ran  from  the  extreme  of  low  water  in  summer  to 
violent  floods  in  winter  and  spring.  Thus  his  miller, 
William  A.  Poole,  in  a  letter  that  wins  the  sweep 
stakes  in  phonetic  spelling,  complains  in  1757  that 
he  has  been  able  to  grind  but  little  because  "She 
fails  by  want  of  Water."  At  other  times  the  Master 
sallies  out  in  the  rain  with  rescue  crews  to  save  the 
mill  from  floods  and  more  than  once  the  "tumbling 
dam"  goes  by  the  board  in  spite  of  all  efforts.  The 
lack  of  water  was  partly  remedied  in  1771  by  turn 
ing  the  water  of  Piney  Branch  into  the  Run,  and 
about  the  same  time  a  new  and  better  mill  was 
erected,  while  in  1797  further  improvements  were 
made.  During  the  whole  period  flatboats  and  small 


98     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

schooners  could  come  to  the  wharf  to  take  away  the 
flour.  Corn  and  other  grains  were  ground,  as  well 
as  wheat,  and  the  mill  had  considerable  neighbor 
hood  custom,  the  toll  exacted  being  one-eighth. 
Only  a  few  stones  sticking  in  a  bank  now  remain 
of  the  mill. 

Washington  divided  his  flour  into  superfine,  fine, 
middlings  and  ship  stuff.  It  was  put  into  barrels 
manufactured  by  the  plantation  coopers  and  much 
of  it  ultimately  found  its  way  to  the  West  India 
market.  A  tradition — much  quoted — has  it  that 
barrels  marked  "George  Washington,  Mount  Ver- 
non,"  were  accepted  in  the  islands  without  any  in 
spection,  but  Mr.  J.  M.  Turner,  one  of  the  closest 
students  of  Washington's  career,  contended  that 
this  was  a  mistake  and  pointed  to  the  fact  that  the 
Virginia  law  provided  for  the  inspection  of  all  flour 
before  it  was  exported  and  the  placing  of  a  brand 
on  each  barrel.  However  this  may  be,  we  have 
Washington's  own  word  for  it,  that  his  flour  was 
as  good  in  quality  as  any  manufactured  in  America 
— and  he  was  no  boasting  lago. 

That  his  flour  was  so  good  was  in  large  measure 
due  to  the  excellent  quality  of  the  wheat  from  which 
it  was  made.  By  careful  attention  to  his  seed  and 


Dogue  Run  below  the  Site  of  the  Mill 


On  the  Road  to  the  Mill  and  Pohick  Church 


AGRICULTURAL   OPERATIONS       99 

to  cultivation  he  succeeded  in  raising  grain  that 
often  weighed  upward  of  sixty  pounds  to  the 
bushel.  After  the  Revolution  he  wrote :  "No  wheat 
that  has  ever  yet  fallen  under  my  observation  ex 
ceeds  the  wheat  which  some  years  ago  I  cultivated 
extensively." 

His  idea  of  good  cultivation  in  these  years  was 
to  let  his  fields  lie  fallow  at  certain  intervals,  though 
he  also  made  use  of  manure,  marl,  etc.,  and  in  1772 
tried  the  experiment  of  sowing  two  bushels  of  salt 
per  acre  upon  fallow  ground,  dividing  the  plot  up 
into  strips  eight  feet  in  width  and  sowing  the  alter 
nate  strips  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  deter 
mine  results. 

He  imported  from  England  an  improved  Roth- 
eran  or  patent  plow,  and,  having  noticed  in  an  agri 
cultural  work  mention  of  a  machine  capable  of  pull 
ing  up  two  or  three  hundred  stumps  per  day,  he  ex 
pressed  a  desire  for  one,  saying:  "If  the  accounts 
are  not  greatly  exaggerated,  such  powerful  assist 
ance  must  be  of  vast  utility  in  many  parts  of  this 
wooden  country,  where  it  is  impossible  for  our  force 
(and  laborers  are  not  to  be  hired  here),  between  the 
finishing  of  one  crop  and  preparations  for  an 
other,  to  clear  ground  fast  enough  to  afford  the 


100    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

proper  changes,  either  in  the  planting  or  farming 
business." 

These  were  his  golden  days.  He  was  not  so  rich 
as  he  was  later  nor  so  famous,  but  he  was  strong 
and  well  and  young,  he  had  abundant  friends,  and 
his  neighbors  thought  well  enough  of  him  to  send 
him  to  the  Burgesses  and  to  make  him  a  vestryman 
of  old  Pohick  Church;  if  he  felt  the  need  of  recrea 
tion  he  went  fishing  or  fox-hunting  or  attended  a 
horse  race  or  played  a  game  of  cards  with  his 
friends,  and  he  had  few  things  to  trouble  him  seri 
ously.  But  fussy  kings  and  ministers  overseas  were 
meddling  with  the  liberties  of  subjects  and  were 
creating  a  situation  out  of  which  was  to  come  a 
mighty  burden — a  burden  so  Atalanfean  that  it 
would  have  frightened  most  men,  but  one  that  he 
was  brave  enough  and  strong  enough  to  shoulder 
and  with  it  march  down  to  immortality. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONSERVING  THE   SOIE 

THE  Revolution  rudely  interrupted  Washing 
ton's  farming  experiments,  and  for  eight  long 
years  he  was  so  actively  engaged  in  the  grim  busi 
ness  of  checkmating  Howe  and  Clinton  and  Corn- 
wallis  that  he  could  give  little  time  or  thought  to 
agriculture.  For  more  than  six  years,  in  fact,  he 
did  not  once  set  foot  upon  his  beloved  fields  and 
heard  of  his  crops,  his  servants  and  his  live  stock 
only  from  family  visitors  to  his  camps  or  through 
the  pages  of  his  manager's  letters. 

Peace  at  last  brought  him  release.  He  had  left 
Mount  Vernon  a  simple  country  gentleman ;  he  came 
back  to  it  one  of  the  most  famous  men  in  the  world. 
He  wasted  no  time  in  contemplating  his  laurels,  but 
at  once  threw  himself  with  renewed  enthusiasm  into 
his  old  occupation.  His  observation  of  northern 
agriculture  and  conversations  with  other  farmers 
had  broadened  his  views  and  he  was  more  than  ever 

101 


102    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

progressive.  He  was  now  thoroughly  convinced  of 
the  great  desirability  of  grass  and  stock  for  conserv 
ing  the  soil  and  he  was  also  wide  awake  to  the  need 
of  better  tools  and  methods  and  wished  to  make  his 
estate  beautiful  as  well  as  useful. 

Much  of  his  energy  in  1784-85  was  devoted  to 
rebuilding  his  house  and  improving  his  grounds,  and 
to  his  trip  to  his  Ohio  lands — all  of  which  are  de 
scribed  elsewhere.  No  diary  exists  for  1784  except 
that  of  the  trip  to  the  Ohio,  but  from  the  diary  of 
1785  we  learn  that  he  found  time  to  experiment  with 
plaster  of  Paris  and  powdered  stone  as  fertilizers, 
to  sow  clover,  orchard  grass,  guinea  grass  and  peas 
and  to  borrow  a  scow  with  which  to  raise  rich  mud 
from  the  bed  of  the  Potomac. 

The  growing  poverty  of  his  soil,  in  fact,  was  a 
subject  to  which  he  gave  much  attention.  He  made 
use  of  manure  when  possible,  but  the  supply  of  this 
was  limited  and  commercial  fertilizers  were  un 
known.  As  already  indicated,  he  was  beginning  the 
use  of  clover  and  other  grasses,  but  he  was  anxious 
to  build  up  the  soil  more  rapidly  and  the  Potomac 
muck  seemed  to  him  a  possible  answer  to  the  prob 
lem.  There  was,  as  he  said,  "an  inexhaustible  fund" 
of  it,  but  the  task  of  getting  it  on  the  land  was  a 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  103 

heavy  one.  Having  heard  of  a  horse-power  dredge 
called  the  Hippopotamus  that  was  in  use  on  the 
Delaware  River,  he  made  inquiries  concerning  it 
but  feared  that  it  would  not  serve  his  purpose,  as 
he  would  have  to  go  from  one  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  or  a  thousand  yards  from  high  water-mark 
for  the  mud — too  far  out  for  a  horse  to  be  available. 
Mechanical  difficulties  and  the  cost  of  getting  up  the 
mud  proved  too  great  for  him — as  they  have  proved 
too  great  even  down  to  the  present — but  he  never 
gave  up  the  idea  and  from  time  to  time  tried  ex 
periments  with  small  plots  of  ground  that  had  been 
covered  with  the  mud.  His  enthusiasm  on  the  sub 
ject  was  so  great  that  Noah  Webster,  of  dictionary 
fame,  who  visited  him  in  this  period,  says  that  the 
standing  toast  at  Mount  Vernon  was  "Success  to 
the  mud  r 

Every  scientific  agriculturist  knows  that  erosion 
is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  loss  in  soil  fertility  and 
that  in  the  basins  and  deltas  of  streams  and  rivers 
there  is  going  to  waste  enough  muck  to  make  all  of 
our  land  rich.  But  the  cost  of  getting  this  fertility 
back  to  the  soil  has  thus  far  proved  too  great  for 
us  to  undertake  the  task  of  restoration.  It  is  con 
ceivable,  however,  that  the  time  may  come  when  we 


104    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

shall  undertake  the  work  in  earnest  and  then  the 
dream  of  Washington  will  be  realized. 

The  spring  and  summer  of  1785  proved  excess 
ively  dry,  and  the  crops  suffered,  as  they  always  do 
in  times  of  drought.  The  wheat  yield  was  poor  and 
chinch  bugs  attacked  the  corn  in  such  myriads  that 
our  Farmer  found  "hundreds  of  them  &  their  young 
under  the  blades  and  at  the  lower  joints  of  the 
Stock."  By  the  middle  of  August  "Nature  had  put 
on  a  melancholy  look."  The  corn  was  "fired  in 
most  places  to  the  Ear,  with  little  appearance  of 
yielding  if  Rain  should  now  come  &  a  certainty  of 
making  nothing  if  it  did  not." 

Like  millions  of  anxious  farmers  before  and  after 
him,  he  watched  eagerly  for  the  rain  that  came  not. 
He  records  in  his  diary  that  on  August  17th  a  good 
deal  of  rain  fell  far  up  the  river,  but  as  for  his  fields 
— it  tantalizingly  passed  by  on  the  other  side,  and 
"not  enough  fell  here  to  wet  a  handkerchief."  On 
the  eighteenth,  nineteenth  and  twenty-second  clouds 
and  thunder  and  lightning  again  awakened  hopes 
but  only  slight  sprinkles  resulted.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  nature  at  last  relented  and,  to  his  great  satis 
faction,  there  was  a  generous  downpour. 

The  rain  was  beneficial  to  about  a  thousand  grains 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  105 

of  Cape  of  Good  Hope  wheat  that  Washington  had 
just  sown  and  by  the  thirty-first  he  was  able  to  note 
that  it  was  coming  up.  For  several  years  thereafter 
he  experimented  with  this  wheat.  He  found  that 
it  grew  up  very  rank  and  tried  cutting  some  of  it 
back.  But  the  variety  was  not  well  adapted  to  Vir 
ginia  and  ultimately  he  gave  it  up. 

In  this  period  he  also  tried  Siberian  wheat,  put 
marl  on  sixteen  square  rods  of  meadow,*  plowed 
under  rye,  and  experimented  with  oats,  carrots,  East 
ern  Shore  peas,  supposed  to  be  strengthening  to  land, 
also  rib  grass,  burnet  and  various  other  things.  He 
planted  potatoes  both  with  and  without  manure  and 
noted  carefully  the  difference  in  yields.  At  this 
time  he  favored  planting  corn  in  rows  about  ten 
feet  apart,  with  rows  of  potatoes,  carrots,  or  peas 
betwe'en.  He  noted  down  that  his  experience 
showed  that  corn  ought  to  be  planted  not  later  than 

*  "On  sixteen  square  rod  of  ground  in  my  lower  pasture,  I 
put  140  Bushels  of  what  we  call  Marie  viz  on  4  of  these,  No. 
Wt.  corner  were  placed  50  bushels — on  4  others  So.  Wt.  corner 
30  bushels— on  4  others  So.  Et.  corner  40  bushels — and  on  the 
remaining  4=20  bushels.  This  Marie  was  spread  on  the  rods 
in  these  proportions — to  try  first  whether  what  we  have  de 
nominated  to  be  Marie  possesses  any  virtue  as  manure — and 
secondly — if  it  does,  the  quantity  proper  for  an  acre."  His 
ultimate  conclusion  was  that  marl  was  of  little  benefit  to  land 
such  as  he  owned  at  Mount  Vernon. 


106    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

May  15th,  preferably  by  the  tenth  or  perhaps  even  as 
early  as  the  first,  in  which  his  practice  would  not 
differ  much  from  that  of  to-day.  But  he  came  to 
an  erroneous  conclusion  when  he  decided  that  wheat 
ought  to  be  sown  in  August  or  at  the  latter  end  of 
July,  for  this  was  playing  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemy,  the  Hessian  fly,  which  is  particularly  de 
structive  to  early  sown  wheat.  Later  he  seems  to 
have  changed  his  mind  on  that  point,  for  near  the 
end  of  his  life  he  instructed  his  manager  to  get  the 
wheat  in  by  September  10th.  Another  custom 
which  he  was  advocating  was  that  of  fall  and  win 
ter  plowing  and  he  had  as  much  of  it  done  as  time 
and  weather  would  permit.  All  of  his  experiments 
in  this  period  were  painstakingly  set  down  and  he 
even  took  the  trouble  in  1786  to  index  his  agricul 
tural  notes  and  observations  for  that  year. 

Many  of  his  experiments  were  made  in  what  he 
called  his  "Botanical  Garden,"  a  plot  of  ground 
lying  between  the  flower  garden  and  the  spinner's 
house.  But  he  had  experimental  plots  on  most  or 
all  of  his  plantations,  and  each  day  as  he  made  the 
rounds  of  his  estate  on  horseback  he  would  examine 
how  his  plants  were  growing  or  would  start  new 
experiments. 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  107 

The  record  of  failures  is,  of  course,  much  greater 
than  of  successes,  but  that  is  the  experience  of  every 
scientific  farmer  or  horticulturist  who  ventures  out 
of  the  beaten  path.  Even  Burbank,  the  wizard,  has 
his  failures — and  many  of  them. 

One  of  Washington's  successes  was  what  he  called 
a  "barrel  plough."  At  that  time  all  seed,  such  as 
corn,  wheat  and  oats  had  to  be  sown  or  dropped  by 
hand  and  then  covered  with  a  harrow  or  a  hoe  or 
something  of  the  kind.  Washington  tried  to  make  a 
machine  that  would  do  the  work  more  expeditiously 
and  succeeded,  though  it  should  be  said  that  his 
plans  were  not  altogether  original  with  him,  as  there 
was  a  plan  for  such  a  machine  in  Duhamel  and  an 
other  was  published  by  Arthur  Young  about  this 
time  in  the  Annals  of  Agriculture,  which  Washing 
ton  was  now  perusing  with  much  attention.  Rich 
ard  Peters  also  sent  yet  another  plan. 

Washington's  drill,  as  we  should  call  it  to-day, 
consisted  of  a  barrel  or  hollow  cylinder  of  wood 
mounted  upon  a  wheeled  plow  and  so  arranged 
that  as  the  plow  moved  forward  the  barrel  turned. 
In  the  barrel,  holes  were  cut  or  burnt  through  which 
the  corn  or  other  seed  could  drop  into  tubes  that 
ran  down  to  the  ground.  By  decreasing  or  increas- 


108    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

ing  the  number  of  holes  the  grain  could  be  planted 
thicker  or  thinner  as  desired.  To  prevent  the  holes 
from  choking  up  he  found  it  expedient  to  make  them 
larger  on  the  outside  than  on  the  inside,  and  he  also 
found  that  the  machine  worked  better  if  the  barrel 
was  not  kept  too  full  of  seed.  Behind  the  drills  ran  a 
light  harrow  or  drag  which  covered  the  seed,  though 
in  rough  ground  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  man  fol 
low  after  with  a  hoe  to  assist  the  process.  A  string 
was  fastened  to  this  harrow  by  which  it  could  be 
lifted  around  when  turning  at  the  ends  of  the  rows, 
the  drill  itself  being  managed  by  a  pair  of  handles. 
Washington  wrote  to  a  friend  that  the  drill  would 
not  "work  to  good  effect  in  land  that  is  very  full 
either  of  stumps,  stones,  or  large  clods;  but,  where 
the  ground  is  tolerably  free  from  these  and  in  good 
tilth,  and  particularly  in  light  land,  I  am  certain 
you  will  find  it  equal  to  your  most  sanguine  expecta 
tion,  for  Indian  corn,  wheat,  barley,  pease,  or  any 
other  tolerably  round  grain,  that  you  may  wish  to 
sow  or  plant  in  this  manner.  I  have  sown  oats  very 
well  with  it,  which  is  among  the  most  inconvenient 
and  unfit  grains  for  this  machine.  ...  A  small 
bag,  containing  about  a  peck  of  the  seed  you  are 
sowing,  is  hung  to  the  nails  on  the  right  handle,  and 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  109 

with  a  small  tin  cup  the  barrel  is  replenished  with 
convenience,  whenever  it  is  necessary,  without  loss 
of  time,  or  waiting  to  come  up  with  the  seed-bag 
at  the  end  of  the  row." 

As  Washington  says,  the  drill  would  probably 
work  well  under  ideal  conditions,  but  there  were 
features  of  it  that  would  incline,  I  have  no  doubt, 
to  make  its  operator  swear  at  times.  There  was  a 
leather  band  that  ran  about  the  barrel  with  holes 
corresponding  to  those  in  the  barrel,  the  purpose  of 
the  band  being  to  prevent  the  seeds  issuing  out  of 
more  than  one  hole  at  the  same  time.  This  band 
had  to  be  "slackened  or  braced"  according  to  the 
influence  of  the  atmosphere  upon  the  leather,  and 
sometimes  the  holes  in  the  band  tended  to  gape  and 
admit  seed  between  the  band  and  the  barrel,  in 
which  case  Washington  found  it  expedient  to  rivet 
"a  piece  of  sheet  tin,  copper,  or  brass,  the  width  of 
the  band,  and  about  four  inches  long,  with  a  hole 
through  it,  the  size  of  the  one  in  the  leather." 

Washington  was,  however,  very  proud  of  the 
drill,  and  it  must  have  worked  fairly  well,  for  he 
was  not  the  man  to  continue  to  use  a  worthless  im 
plement  simply  because  he  had  made  it.  He  even 
used  it  to  sow  very  small  seed.  In  the  summer  of 


110    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

1786  he  records:  "Having  fixed  a  Roller  to  the 
tale  of  my  drill  plow,  &  a  brush  between  it  and  the 
barrel,  I  sent  it  to  Muddy  Hole  &  sowed  turnips  in 
the  intervals  of  corn."* 

No  man  better  understood  the  value  of  good  clean 
seed  than  did  he,  but  he  had  much  trouble  in  satisfy 
ing  his  desires  in  this  respect.  Often  the  seed  he 
bought  was  foul  with  weed  seeds,  and  at  other  times 
it  would  not  grow  at  all.  Once  he  mentions  having 

*  Another  passage  from  his  papers  in  which  he  mentions  us 
ing  his  drill  plow  is  also  illustrative  of  the  emphasis  he  placed 
upon  having  the  seed  bed  for  a  crop  properly  prepared.  The 
passage  describes  his  sowing  some  spring  wheat  and  is  as  fol 
lows:  "12th  [of  April,  1785]. — Sowed  sixteen  acres  of  Siberian 
wheat,  with  eighteen  quarts,  in  rows  between  corn,  eight  feet 
apart.  This  ground  had  been  prepared  in  the  following  man 
ner  :  1.  A  single  furrow ;  2.  another  in  the  same  to  deepen  it ; 
3.  four  furrows  to  throw  the  earth  back  into  the  two  first,  which 
made  ridges  of  five  furrows.  These,  being  done  some  time  ago, 
and  the  sowing  retarded  by  frequent  rains,  had  got  hard ;  there 
fore,  4.  before  the  seed  was  sown,  these  ridges  were  split 
again  by  running  twice  in  the  middle  of  them,  both  times  in 
the  same  furrow ;  5.  after  which  the  ridges  were  harrowed ; 
and,  6.  where  the  ground  was  lumpy,  run  a  spiked  roller  with 
a  harrow  at  the  tail  of  it,  which  was  found  very  efficacious  in 
breaking  the  clods  and  pulverizing  the  earth,  and  would  have 
done  it  perfectly,  if  there  had  not  been  too  much  moisture  re 
maining  from  the  late  rains.  After  this,  harrowing  and  roll 
ing  were  necessary,  the  wheat  was  sown  with  the  drill  plough 
on  the  reduced  ridges  eight  feet  apart,  as  above  mentiojied, 
and  harrowed  in  with  the  small  harrow  belonging  to  the 
plough.  But  it  should  have  been  observed,  that,  after  the 
ridges  were  split  by  the  middle  double  furrows,  and  before 
they  were  closed  again  by  the  harrow,  a  little  manure  was 
sprinkled  in." 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  111 

set  the  women  and  "weak  hands"  to  work  picking 
wild  onions  out  of  some  Eastern  Shore  oats  that  he 
had  bought. 

He  advocated  planting  the  largest  and  finest  po 
tatoes  instead  of  the  little  ones,  as  some  farmers  out 
of  false  ideas  of  economy  still  make  the  mistake  of 
doing,  and  he  followed  the  same  principle  that  "the 
best  will  produce  the  best"  in  selecting  all  seed. 

He  also  appreciated  the  importance  of  getting 
just  the  right  stand  of  grain — not  too  many  plants 
and  not  too  few — upon  his  fields  and  conducted  in 
vestigations  along  this  line.  He  laboriously  calcu 
lated  the  number  of  seed  in  a  pound  Troy  of  various 
seeds  and  ascertained,  for  example,  that  the  number 
of  red  clover  was  71,000,  of  timothy  298,000,  of 
"New  River  Grass"  844,800  and  of  barley  8,925. 
Knowing  these  facts,  he  \vas  able  to  calculate  how 
much  ought  to  be  sowed  of  a  given  seed  to  the  acre. 

The  spectacle  of  the  former  Commander  of  the 
Armies  of  a  Continent  engaging  in  such  minute 
labor  is  ridiculous  or  sublime,  according  to  the  view 
point  ! 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  that  he  helped  to  frame 
the  Federal  Constitution  he  "Sowed  the  squares  No. 
2  &  4  at  this  place  [Dogue  Run]  with  oats  in  the 


112    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

following  manner — viz — the  East  half  of  No.  2 
with  half  a  Bushel  of  Oats  from  George  Town — 
and  the  west  half  with  a  Bushel  of  Poland  Oats — 
The  east  half  of  No.  4  with  half  a  bushel  of  the 
Poland  Oats  and  the  west  half  with  a  bushel  of  the 
George  Town  Oats.  The  objects,  and  design  of  this 
experiment,  was  to  ascertn.  3  things — 1st.  which  of 
these  two  kinds  of  Oats  were  best  the  George  Town 
(which  was  a  good  kind  of  the  common  Oats) — 2d. 
whether  two  or  four  bushels  to  the  Acre  was  best — 
and  3d.  the  difference  between  ground  dunged  at 
the  Rate  of  5  load  or  200  bushels  to  the  Acre  and 
ground  undunged." 

This  experiment  is  typical  of  a  great  many  others 
and  it  resulted,  of  course,  in  better  yields  on  the  ma 
nured  ground  and  showed  that  two  bushels  of  seed 
were  preferable  to  four.  But  if  he  ever  set  down  the 
result  of  the  experiment  as  regards  the  varieties,  the 
passage  has  escaped  me. 

While  at  Fredericksburg  this  year  visiting  his 
mother  and  his  sister  Betty  Lewis  he  learned  of  an 
interesting  method  of  raising  potatoes  under  straw 
and  wrote  down  the  details  in  his  diary.  A  little 
later  when  attending  the  Federal  Convention  he  kept 
his  eyes  and  ears  open  for  agricultural  information. 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  113 

He  learned  how  the  Pennsylvanians  cultivated  buck 
wheat  and  visited  the  farm  of  a  certain  Jones,  who 
was  getting  good  results  from  the  use  of  plaster  of 
Paris.  With  his  usual  interest  in  labor-saving  ma 
chinery  he  inspected  at  Benjamin  Franklin's  a  sort 
of  ironing  machine  called  a  mangle,  "well  calcu 
lated,"  he  thought,  "for  Table  cloths  &  such  arti 
cles  as  have  not  pleats  &  irregular  foldings  &  would 
be  very  useful  in  large  families." 

This  year  he  had  in  wheat  seven  hundred  acres,  in 
j*rass  five  hundred  eighty  acres,  in  oats  four  hun 
dred  acres,  in  corn  seven  hundred  acres,  with  sev 
eral  hundred  more  in  buckwheat,  barley,  potatoes, 
peas,  beans  and  turnips. 

In  1788  he  raised  one  thousand  eighty-eight  bush 
els  of  potatoes  on  one  plantation,  but  they  wrere  not 
'dug  till  December  and  in  consequence  some  were 
badly  injured  by  the  frost.  An  experiment  that  year 
was  one  of  transplanting  carrots  between  rows  of 
corn  and  it  was  not  successful. 

He  worked  hard  in  these  years,  but,  as  many  an 
other  industrious  farmer  has  discovered,  he  found 
that  he  could  do  little  unless  nature  smiled  and  fickle 
nature  persisted  in  frowning.  In  1785  the  rain 
seemed  to  forget  how  to  fall,  and  in  1786  how  to 


114    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

stop  falling.  Some  crops  failed  or  were  very  short 
and  soon  he  was  so  hard  up  that  he  was  anxious  to 
sell  some  lands  or  negroes  to  meet  debts  coming  due. 
In  February,  1786,  in  sending  fifteen  guineas  to  his 
mother,  he  wrote : 

"I  have  now  demands  upon  me  for  more  than 
£500,  three  hundred  and  forty  odd  of  which  is  due 
for  the  tax  of  1786;  and  I  know  not  where  or  when 
I  shall  receive  one  shilling  with  which  to  pay  it.  In 
the  last  two  years  I  made  no  crops.  In  the  first  I 
was  obliged  to  buy  corn,  and  this  year  have  none  to 
sell,  and  my  wheat  is  so  bad  I  can  neither  eat  it  my 
self  nor  sell  it  to  others,  and  tobacco  I  make  none. 
Those  who  owe  me  money  cannot  or  will  not  pay 
it  without  suits,  and  to  sue  is  to  do  nothing;  whilst 
my  expenses,  not  from  any  extravagance,  or  an  in 
clination  on  my  part  to  live  splendidly,  but  for  the 
absolute  support  of  my  family  and  the  visitors  who 
are  constantly  here,  are  exceedingly  high." 

To  bad  crops  were  joined  bad  conditions  through 
out  the  country  generally.  The  government  of  the 
Confederation  was  dying  of  inanition,  America  was 
flooded  with  depreciated  currency,  both  state  and 
Continental.  In  western  Massachusetts  a  rebellion 
broke  out,  the  rebels  being  largely  discouraged  debt- 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  115 

ors.  A  state  of  chaos  seemed  imminent  and  would 
have  resulted  had  not  the  Federal  Convention,  of 
which  Washington  was  a  member,  created  a  new 
government.  Ultimately  this  government  brought 
order  and  financial  stability,  but  all  this  took  time 
and  Washington  was  so  financially  embarrassed  in 
1789  when  he  traveled  to  New  York  to  be  inaugu 
rated  President  that  he  had  to  borrow  money  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  journey. 

After  having  set  the  wheels  of  government  in  mo 
tion  he  made  an  extended  trip  through  New  Eng 
land  and  whenever  public  festivities  would  permit 
he  examined  into  New  England  farm  methods  and 
took  copious  notes.  On  the  first  day  up  from  New 
York  he  saw  good  crops  of  corn  mixed  with  pump 
kins  and  met  four  droves  of  beef  cattle,  "some  of 
which  were  very  fine — also  a  Flock  of  Sheep.  .  .  . 
We  scarcely  passed  a  farm  house  that  did  not  abd. 
in  Geese."  His  judgment  of  New  England  stock 
was  that  the  cattle  were  "of  a  good  quality  and  their 
hogs  large,  but  rather  long  legged."  The  shingle 
roofs,  stone  and  brick  chimneys,  stone  fences  and 
cider  making  all  attracted  his  attention.  The  fact 
that  wheat  in  that  section  produced  an  average  of 
fifteen  bushels  per  acre  and  often  twenty  or  twenty- 


116    GEORGE  WASHINGTON— FARMER 

five  was  duly  noted.  On  the  whole  he  seems  to  have 
considered  the  tour  enjoyable  and  profitable  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  on  his  return  through  Connecticut 
the  law  against  Sabbath  traveling  compelled  him  to 
remain  over  Sunday  at  Perkins'  Tavern  and  to  at 
tend  church  twice,  where  he  "heard  very  lame  dis 
courses  from  a  Mr.  Pond." 

About  1785  Washington  had  begun  a  correspond 
ence  with  Arthur  Young  and  also  began  to  read 
his  periodical  called  the  Annals  of  Agriculture.  The 
Annals  convinced  him  more  than  ever  of  the  superi 
ority  of  the  English  system  of  husbandry  and  not 
only  gave  him  the  idea  for  some  of  the  experiments 
that  have  been  mentioned,  but  also  made  him  very 
desirous  of  adopting  a  regular  and  systematic  course 
of  cropping  in  order  to  conserve  his  soil.  Taking 
advantage  of  an  offer  made  by  Young,  he  ordered 
(August  6,  1786)  through  him  English  plows,  cab 
bage,  turnip,  sainfoin,  rye-grass  and  hop  clover  seed 
and  eight  bushels  of  winter  vetches;  also  some 
months  later,  velvet  wheat,  field  beans,  spring  bar 
ley,  oats  and  more  sainfoin  seed.  He  furthermore 
expressed  a  wish  for  "a  plan  of  the  most  complete 
and  useful  farmyard,  for  farms  of  about  500  acres. 
In  this  I  mean  to  comprehend  the  barn,  and  every 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  117 

appurtenance  which  ought  to  be  annexed  to  the 
yard." 

Young  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Although  Eng 
lish  law  forbade  the  exportation  of  some  of  these 
things — a  fact  of  which  Washington  was  not  aware 
— he  and  Sir  John  Sinclair  prevailed  upon  Lord 
Grenville  to  issue  a  special  permit  and  in  due  course 
everything  reached  Mount  Vernon.  Part  of  the 
seeds  were  somewhat  injured  by  being  put  into  the 
hold  of  the  vessel  that  brought  them  over,  with  the 
result  that  they  overheated — a  thing  that  troubled 
Washington  whenever  he  imported  seeds — but  on 
the  whole  the  consignment  was  in  fair  order,  and 
our  Farmer  was  duly  grateful. 

The  plows  appeared  excessively  heavy  to  the  Vir 
ginians  who  looked  them  over,  but  a  trial  showed 
that  they  worked  "exceedingly  well." 

To  Young's  plan  for  a  barn  and  barnyard  Wash 
ington  made  some  additions  and  constructed  the 
barn  upon  Union  Farm,  building  it  of  bricks  that 
were  made  on  the  estate.  He  later  expressed  a  belief 
that  it  was  "the  largest  and  most  convenient  one  in 
this  country."  It  has  now  disappeared  almost  utter 
ly,  but  Young's  plan  was  subsequently  engraved  in 
the  Annals. 


118    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

In  return  for  the  exertions  of  Young  and  Sin 
clair  in  his  behalf  Washington  sent  over  some  Amer 
ican  products  and  also  took  pains  to  collect  infor 
mation  for  them  as  to  the  state  of  American  agri 
culture.  His  letters  show  an  almost  pathetic  eager 
ness  to  please  these  good  friends  and  it  is  evident 
that  in  his  farming  operations  he  regarded  himself 
as  one  of  Young's  disciples.  He  was  no  egotist  who 
believed  that  because  he  had  been  a  successful  sol 
dier  and  was  now  President  of  the  United  States  he 
could  not  learn  anything  from  a  specialist.  The  trait 
was  most  commendable  and  one  that  is  sadly  lacking 
in  many  of  his  countrymen,  some  of  whom  take 
pride  in  declaring  that  "these  here  scientific  fellers 
caint  tell  me  nothin'  about  raisin*  corn!" 

Young  and  Sir  John  Sinclair  were  by  no  means 
his  only  agricultural  correspondents.  Even  Noah 
Webster  dropped  his  legal  and  philological  work 
long  enough  in  1790  to  propound  a  theory  so  start- 
lingly  modern  in  its  viewpoint  that  it  is  worthy  of 
reproduction.  Said  he : 

"While  therefore  I  allow,  in  its  full  extent,  the 
value  of  stable  manure,  marl,  plaster  of  Paris,  lime, 
ashes,  sea-weed,  sea-shells  &  salt,  in  enriching  land, 
I  believe  none  of  them  are  absolutely  necessary,  but 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  119 

that  nature  has  provided  an  inexhaustible  store  of 
manure,  which  is  equally  accessible  to  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  &  which  may  be  collected  &  applied  to  land 
with  very  little  labor  and  expense.  This  store  is  the 
atmosphere,  &  the  process  by  which  the  fertilizing 
substance  may  be  obtained  is  vegetation." 

He  added  that  such  crops  as  oats,  peas,  beans  and 
buckwheat  should  be  raised  and  plowed  under  to  rot 
and  that  land  should  never  be  left  bare.  As  one  pe 
ruses  the  letter  he  recalls  that  scientists  of  to-day 
tell  us  that  the  air  is  largely  made  up  of  nitrogen, 
that  plants  are  able  to  ''fix  it,"  and  he  half  expects 
to  find  Webster  advocating  "soil  innoculation"  and 
speaking  of  "nodules"  and  "bacteria." 

Throughout  the  period  after  the  Revolution  our 
Farmer's  one  greatest  concern  was  to  conserve  and 
restore  his  land.  When  looking  for  a  new  manager 
he  once  wrote  that  the  man  must  be,  "above  all, 
Midas  like,  one  who  can  convert  everything  he 
touches  into  manure,  as  the  first  transmutation  to 
ward  gold;  in  a  word,  one  who  can  bring  wornout 
and  gullied  lands  into  good  tilth  in  the  shortest 
time."  He  saved  manure  as  if  it  were  already  so 
much  gold  and  hoped  with  its  use  and  with  judicious 
rotation  of  crops  to  accomplish  his  object.  "Unlest 


120    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

some  such  practice  as  this  prevails,"  he  wrote  in 
1794,  "my  fields  will  be  growing  worse  and  worse 
every  year,  until  the  Crops  will  not  defray  the  ex 
pense  of  the  culture  of  them." 

He  drew  up  elaborate  plans  for  the  rotation  of 
crops  on  his  different  farms.  Not  content  with  one 
plan,  he  often  drew  up  several  alternatives;  calcu 
lated  the  probable  financial  returns  from  each,  allow 
ing  for  the  cost  of  seed,  cultivation  and  other  ex 
penses,  and  commented  upon  the  respective  advan 
tages  from  every  point  of  view  of  the  various  plans. 
The  labor  involved  in  such  work  was  very  great,  but 
Washington  was  no  shirker.  He  was  always  up 
before  sunrise,  both  in  winter  and  summer,  and 
seems  to  have  been  so  constituted  that  he  was  most 
contented  when  he  had  something  to  do.  Perhaps  if 
he  had  had  to  engage  in  hard  manual  toil  every  day 
he  would  have  had  less  inclination  for  such  employ 
ment,  but  he  worked  with  his  own  hands  only  inter 
mittently,  devoting  his  time  mostly  to  planning  and 
oversight. 

One  such  plan  for  Dogue  Run  Farm  is  given  on 
the  next  page.  To  understand  it  the  reader  should 
bear  in  mind  that  the  farm  contained  five  hundred 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL 


121 


fc     «n 

5    « 

s    « 

13 

2    s 

I 

B,| 

i-t 

SS2 
G    0 

G    v 

G    'o 

^ 

i^g 

^  s 

£ 

M 

j 

M 

M 

| 

3  » 
||| 

1 

S-ol 

S^-s 

•" 

G    o 

G    ^ 

^ 

1a| 

p 

u  «-s 

G    o 

M 

"rt       c 

(0 

S 

|s| 

2 

|u| 

S 

jg 

!•§! 

IsS 

|S3 

** 

G   o 

£ 

3       S 

^ 

o58^ 

G    o 

G    o 

A 

1  ^ 

« 

s 

Isl 

2-0° 

00  g 

o  o  2 

o  o  2 

TH 

£ 

rl 

i 

rjrtg 

G    'O 

G    u 

G    o 

pq 

1    « 

0) 

8 

rt 

V 

•       43 

0  C  rt 

O  O  2 

q^         c/} 

!»| 

8 

V 
43 

3       S 

% 

u'£ 

G   o 

G    o 

G   0 

^ 

m 

8    « 

• 

c       o 

^         'J. 

«)     j" 

A 

J2        *-• 

S 

43 

o'c'rt 

oo2 

SS2 

0  0  2 

43 

£  o  fl 

^ 

J"l 

G     ^5 

G   o 

G    0 

* 

D       S 

1 

Corn 
and 
Potatoes 

4)         w 

G°^ 

•"          03 
V          M 

!*! 

G   o 

Wheat 

Buckwheat 
for 

Manure 

Wheat 

11 

CO 

- 

M 

«0 

- 

•4 

O4 

122     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

twenty-five  arable  acres  divided  into  seven  fields, 
each  of  which  contained  about  seventy-five  acres. 

Of  this  rotation  he  noted  that  it  "favors  the  land 
very  much;  inasmuch  as  there  are  but  three  corn 
crops  [i.  e.  grain  crops]  taken  in  seven  years  from 
any  field,  &  the  first  of  the  wheat  crops  is  followed 
by  a  Buck  Wheat  manure  for  the  second  Wheat 
Crop,  wch.  is  to  succeed  it;  &  which  by  being  laid 
to  Clover  or  Grass  &  continued  therein  three  years 
will  aford  much  Mowing  or  Grassing,  according  as 
the  Seasons  happen  to  be,  besides  being  a  restoration 
to  the  Soil —  But  the  produce  of  the  sale  of  the 
Crops  is  small,  unless  encreased  by  the  improving 
state  of  the  fields.  Nor  will  the  Grain  for  the  use  of 
the  Farm  be  adequate  to  the  consumption  of  it  in 
this  Course,  and  this  is  an  essential  object  to  at 
tend  to." 

In  a  second  table  he  estimated  the  amount  of  work 
that  would  be  required  each  year  to  carry  out  this 
plan  of  rotation,  assuming  that  one  plow  would 
break  up  three- fourths  of  an  acre  per  day.  This 
amount  is  hardly  half  what  an  energetic  farmer 
with  a  good  team  of  horses  will  now  turn  over  in  a 
day  with  an  ordinary  walking  plow,  but  the  negro 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL 


123 


farmer  lacked  ambition,  the  plows  were  cumber 
some,  and  much  of  the  work  was  done  with  plodding 
oxen.  The  table  follows : 


rt 

b 

Winter 

J3 

S 
2 

-i. 
< 

>, 

« 

s 

i 
•—i 

>-, 

"5 

in 
a 
tc 

a 
< 

'a 
£ 

"rt 

"o 

•H 

l66 

60 
10 
70 
70 
70 
75 

100 

Laying  off  and  listing 
Crossing  for  planting. 

fiO 

10 

70 

70 

70 

75 

No.  4) 

No.Gi 
No  1     75  Acres  —  Buckwheat  for  Manure 

100 
100 
100 

Breaking  up 

100 

Crossing  for  sowing. 

100 

Ploughing  it 

100 

No  2      75  Acres  —  Wheat.  Corn  Ground.. 

No  7      75  Acres—  Wheat  or  Buckwheat 

100 

100 
855 

525  Acres 

— 

200 

... 

60 

110 

70 

170 

70 

175 

He  estimated  that  seventy -five  acres  of  corn 
would  yield,  at  twelve  and  a  half  bushels  per  acre, 
937*/2  bushels,  worth  at  two  shillings  and  sixpence 
per  bushel  £117.3.9.  In  this  field  potatoes  would  be 
planted  between  the  rows  of  corn  and  would  pro 
duce,  at  twelve  and  a  half  bushels  per  acre,  937 J^ 
bushels,  worth  at  one  shilling  per  bushel  £46.17.6. 
Two  fields  in  wheat,  a  total  of  one  hundred  fifty 
acres,  at  ten  bushels  per  acre,  would  yield  one  thou 
sand  five  hundred  bushels,  worth  at  five  shillings  per 


124    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

bushel  three  hundred  seventy-five  pounds.  Three 
fields  in  clover  and  grass  and  the  field  of  buckwheat 
to  be  turned  under  for  manure  would  yield  no 
money  return.  In  other  words  the  whole  farm  would 
produce  three  thousand  three  hundred  seventy-five 
bushels  of  grain  and  potatoes  worth  a  total  of 
£539.1.3. 

A  second  alternative  plan  would  yield  crops  worth 
£614.1.3;  a  third,  about  the  same;  a  fourth,  £689. 1.3; 
a  fifth,  providing  for  two  hundred  twenty-five  acres 
of  wheat,  £801.11.0;  a  sixth,  £764.  Number  five 
would  be  most  productive,  but  he  noted  that  it  would 
seriously  reduce  the  land.  Number  six  would  be  "the 
£ d.  most  productive  Rotation,  but  the  fields  receive 
no  rest/*  as  it  provided  for  neither  grass  nor  pas 
ture,  while  the  plowing  required  would  exceed  that 
of  any  of  the  other  plans  by  two  hundred  eighty 
days. 

On  a  small  scale  he  tried  growing  cotton,  Botany 
Bay  grass,  hemp,  white  nankeen  grass  and  various 
other  products.  He  experimented  with  deep  soil 
plowing  by  running  twice  in  the  same  furrow  and 
also  cultivated  some  wheat  that  had  been  drilled  in 
rows  instead  of  broadcasted. 

In  1793  he  built  a  new  sixteen-sided  barn  on  the 


Part   of   Washington's    Plan    for    His    Sixteen-Sided    Barn 


CONSERVING    THE    SOIL  125 

Dogue  Run  Farm.  The  plan  of  this  barn,  drawn  by 
Washington  himself,  is  still  preserved  and  is  repro 
duced  herewith.  He  calculated  that  one  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  bricks  would  be  required  for  it  and 
these  were  made  and  burnt  upon  the  estate.  The 
barn  was  particularly  notable  for  a  threshing  floor 
thirty  feet  square,  with  interstices  one  and  a  half 
inches  wide  left  between  the  floor  boards  so  that  the 
grain  when  trodden  out  by  horses  or  beat  out  with 
flails  would  fall  through  to  the  floor  below,  leaving 
the  straw  above. 

This  floor  was  to  furnish  an  illustration  of  wyhat 
Washington  called  "the  almost  impossibility  of  put 
ting  the  overseers  of  this  country  out  of  the  track 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  walk  in.  I  have  one 
of  the  most  convenient  barns  in  this  or  perhaps  any 
other  country,  where  thirty  hands  may  with  great 
ease  be  employed  in  threshing.  Half  the  wheat  of 
the  farm  was  actually  stowed  in  this  barn  in  the 
straw  by  my  order,  for  threshing;  notwithstanding, 
when  I  came  home  about  the  middle  of  September, 
I  found  a  treading  yard  not  thirty  feet  from  the 
barn-door,  the  wheat  again  brought  out  of  the  barn, 
and  horses  treading  it  out  in  an  open  exposure,  lia 
ble  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  weather. " 


126    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

I  think  we  may  safely  conclude  that  this  was  one 
of  those  rare  occasions  when  George  lost  his  tem 
per  and  "went  up  in  the  air !" 

Under  any  conditions  treading  or  flailing  out 
wheat  was  a  slow  and  unsatisfactory  process  and,  as 
Washington  grew  great  quantities  of  this  grain,  he 
was  alert  for  a  better  method.  We  know  that  he 
made  inquiries  of  Arthur  Young  concerning  a 
threshing  machine  invented  by  a  certain  Winlaw  and 
pictured  and  described  in  volume  six  of  the  Annals, 
and  in  1790  he  watched  the  operation  of  Baron 
Poelnitz's  mill  on  the  Winlaw  model  near  New  York 
City.  This  mill  was  operated  by  two  men  and  was 
capable  of  threshing  about  two  bushels  of  wheat  per 
hour — pretty  slow  work  as  compared  with  that  of  a 
modern  thresher.  And  the  grain  had  to  be  win 
nowed,  or  passed  through  a  fan  afterward  to  sepa 
rate  it  from  the  chaff. 

Finally  in  1797  he  erected  a  machine  on  plans 
evolved  by  William  Booker,  who  came  to  Mount 
Vernon  and  oversaw  the  construction.  Next  April 
he  wrote  to  Booker  that  the  machine  "has  by  no 
means  answered  your  expectations  or  mine/'  At 
first  it  threshed  not  quite  fifty  bushels  per  day,  then 
fell  to  less  than  twenty-five,  and  ultimately  got  out 


CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  127 

of  order  before  five  hundred  bushels  had  been 
threshed,  though  it  had  used  up  two  bands  costing 
between  eight  and  ten  pounds.  Booker  replied  that 
he  had  now  greatly  improved  his  invention  and 
would  come  to  Mount  Vernon  and  make  these  ad 
ditions,  but  whether  or  not  he  ever  did  so  I  have 
failed  to  discover. 

By  1793  the  burden  of  the  estate  had  become  so 
heavy  that  Washington  decided  to  rent  all  of  it  ex 
cept  the  Mansion  House  Farm  and  accordingly  he 
wrote  to  Arthur  Young  telling  his  desire  in  the  hope 
that  Englishmen  might  be  found  to  take  it  over.  One 
man,  Parkinson,  of  whom  more  hereafter,  came  to 
America  and  looked  at  one  of  the  farms,  but  de 
cided  not  to  rent  it.  Washington's  elaborate  de 
scription  of  his  land  in  his  letter  to  Young,  with  an 
accompanying  map,  forms  one  of  our  best  sources 
of  information  regarding  Mount  Vernon,  so  that  we 
may  be  grateful  that  he  had  the  intention  even 
though  nothing  came  of  it.  The  whole  of  Mount 
Vernon  continued  to  be  cultivated  as  before  until 
the  last  year  of  his  life  when  he  rented  Dogue  Run 
Farm  to  his  nephew,  Lawrence  Lewis. 

As  a  public  man  he  was  anxious  to  improve  the 
general  state  of  American  agriculture  and  in -his  last 


128    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

annual  message  to  Congress  recommended  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  board  of  agriculture  to  collect  and  dif 
fuse  information  and  "by  premiums  and  small  pe 
cuniary  aids  to  encourage  and  assist  a  spirit  of  dis 
covery  and  improvement."  In  this  recommendation 
the  example  of  the  English  Board  of  Agriculture 
and  the  influence  of  his  friend  Arthur  Young  are 
discernible.  It  would  have  been  well  for  the  country 
if  Congress  had  heeded  the  advice,  but  public  opin 
ion  was  not  then  educated  to  the  need  of  such  a  step 
and  almost  a  century  passed  before  anything  of 
much  importance  was  done  by  the  national  govern 
ment  to  improve  the  state  of  American  agriculture. 
In  farming  as  in  politics  Washington  was  no 
standpatter.  Notwithstanding  many  discourage 
ments,  he  could  not  be  kept  from  trying  new  things, 
and  he  furnished  his  farms  with  every  kind  of  im 
proved  tool  and  implement  calculated  to  do  better 
work.  At  his  death  he  owned  not  only  threshing 
machines  and  a  Dutch  fan,  but  a  wheat  drill,  a  corn 
drill,  a  machine  for  gathering  clover  seed  and  an 
other  for  raking  up  wheat.  Yet  most  of  his  coun 
trymen  remained  content  to  drop  corn  by  hand,  to 
broadcast  their  wheat,  to  tread  out  their  grain  and 


V 

CONSERVING   THE    SOIL  129 

otherwise  to  follow  methods  as  old  as  the  days  of 
Abel  for  at  least  another  half  century. 

He  was  the  first  American  conservationist.  He 
realized  that  man  owes  a  duty  to  the  future  just  as 
he  owes  a  debt  to  the  past.  He  deplored  the  already 
developing  policy  of  robber  exploitation  by  which 
our  soil  and  forests  have  been  despoiled,  for  he  fore 
saw  the  bitter  fruits  which  such  a  policy  must  pro 
duce,  and  indeed  was  already  producing  on  the  fields 
of  Virginia.  He  was  no  misanthropic  cynic  to  ex 
claim,  "What  has  posterity  ever  done  for  us  that  we 
should  concern  ourselves  for  posterity?"  His  care 
for  the  lands  of  Mount  Vernon  was  evidence  of 
the  God-given  trait  imbedded  in  the  best  of  men  to 
transmit  unimpaired  to  future  generations  what  has 
been  handed  down  to  them. 

His  agricultural  career  has  its  lessons  for  us,  even 
though  we  should  not  do  well  to  follow  some  of  his 
methods.  The  lessons  lie  rather  in  his  conception  of 
farming  as  an  honorable  occupation  capable  of  being 
put  on  a  better  and  more  scientific  basis  by  the  ap 
plication  of  brains  and  intelligence;  in  his  open- 
minded  and  progressive  seeking  after  better  ways. 
Many  of  his  experiments  failed,  it  is  true,  but  for 


130    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

his  time  he  was  a  great  Farmer,  just  as  he  was  a 
great  Patriot,  Soldier  and  Statesman.  Patient,  hard 
working,  methodical,  willing  to  sacrifice  his  own  in 
terests  to  those  of  the  general  good,  he  was  one  of 
those  men  who  have  helped  raise  mankind  from  the 
level  of  the  brute  and  his  whole  career  reflects  credit 
upon  human  nature. 

Peace  hath  its  victories  no  less  renowned  than 
war,  and  the  picture  of  the  American  Cincinnatus 
striving  as  earnestly  on  the  green  fields  of  Mount 
Vernon  as  he  did  upon  the  scarlet  ones  of  Mon- 
mouth  and  Brandywine,  is  one  that  the  world  can 
not  afford  to  forget. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   STOCKMAN 

A   various   times   in   his   career   Washington 
raised  deer,  turkeys,  hogs,  cattle,  geese,  ne 
groes  and  various  other  forms  of  live  stock,  but  his 
greatest  interest  seems  to  have  been  reserved  for 
horses,  sheep  and  mules. 

From  his  diaries  and  other  papers  that  have  come 
down  to  us  it  is  easy  to  see  that  during  his  early 
married  life  he  paid  most  attention  to  his  horses. 
In  1760  he  kept  a  stallion  both  for  his  own  mares 
and  for  those  of  his  neighbors,  and  we  find  many 
entries  concerning  the  animal.  Successors  were 
"Leonidas,"  "Samson,"  "Steady,"  "Traveller"  and 
"Magnolia,"  the  last  a  full-blooded  Arabian  and 
probably  the  finest  beast  he  ever  owned.  When  away 
from  home  Washington  now  and  then  directed  the 
manager  to  advertise  the  animal  then  reigning  or 
to  exhibit  him  in  public  places  such  as  fairs.  Mares 
brought  to  the  stallion  were  kept  upon  pasture,  and 
i  131 


132    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

foal  was  guaranteed.  Many  times  the  General  com 
plained  of  the  difficulty  of  collecting  fees. 

During  the  Revolution  he  bought  twenty-seven 
worn-out  army  mares  for  breeding  purposes  and 
soon  after  he  became  President  he  purchased  at  Lan 
caster,  Pennsylvania,  thirteen  fine  animals  for  the 
same  use.  These  last  cost  him  a  total  of  £317.17.6, 
the  price  of  the  highest  being  £25.7.6  and  of  the 
cheapest  £22.10.  These  mares  were  unusually  good 
animals,  as  an  ordinary  beast  would  have  cost  only 
five  or  six  pounds. 

In  November,  1785,  he  had  on  his  various  Mount 
Vernon  farms  a  total  of  one  hundred  thirty  horses, 
including  the  Arabian  already  mentioned.  Among 
the  twenty-one  animals  kept  at  the  Mansion  House 
were  his  old  war  horses  "Nelson"  and  "Blewskin," 
who  after  bearing  their  master  through  the  smoke 
and  dangers  of  many  battles  lived  in  peace  to  a  ripe 
old  age  on  the  green  fields  of  Virginia. 

In  his  last  days  he  bought  two  of  the  easy-gaited 
animals  known  as  Narragansetts,  a  breed,  some 
readers  will  recall,  described  at  some  length  by 
Cooper  in  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans.  A  peculiarity 
of  these  beasts  was  that  they  moved  both  legs  on  a 
side  forward  at  the  same  time,  that  is,  they  were 


THE   STOCKMAN  133 

pacers.  Washington's  two  proved  somewhat  skittish, 
and  one  of  them  was  responsible  for  the  only  fall 
from  horseback  that  we  have  any  record  of  his  re 
ceiving.  In  company  with  Major  Lewis,  Mr.  Peake, 
young  George  Washington  Custis  and  a  groom  he 
was  returning  in  the  evening  from  Alexandria  and 
dismounted  for  a  few  moments  near  a  fire  on  the 
roadside.  When  he  attempted  to  mount  again  the 
horse  sprang  forward  suddenly  and  threw  him.  The 
others  jumped  from  their  horses  to  assist  him,  but 
the  old  man  got  up  quickly,  brushed  his  clothes  and 
explained  that  he  had  been  thrown  only  because  he 
had  not  yet  got  seated.  All  the  horses  meanwhile 
had  run  away  and  the  party  started  to  wsflk  four 
miles  home,  but  luckily  some  negroes  along  the  road 
caught  the  fugitives  and  brought  them  back.  Wash 
ington  insisted  upon  mounting  his  animal  again  and 
rode  home  without  further  incident.  This  episode 
happened  only  a  few  weeks  before  his  death. 

Like  every  farmer  he  found  that  his  horses  had  a 
way  of  growing  old.  Those  with  which  he  had  per 
sonal  associations,  like  "Blueskin"  and  "Nelson," 
he  kept  until  they  died  of  old  age.  With  others  he 
sometimes  followed  a  different  course.  In  1792  we 
find  his  manager,  Whiting,  writing :  "We  have  sev- 


134    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

eral  Old  Horses  that  are  not  worth  keeping  thro 
winter.  One  at  Ferry  has  not  done  one  days  work 
these  18  Months.  2  at  Muddy  hole  one  a  horse  with 
the  Pole  evil  which  I  think  will  not  get  well  the  other 
an  Old  Mare  was  not  capable  of  work  last  summer. 
Likewise  the  Horse  called  old  Chatham  and  the 
Lame  Horse  that  used  to  go  in  the  Waggon  now  in  a 
one  horse  Cart.  If  any  thing  could  be  Got  for  them 
it  might  be  well  but  they  are  not  worth  keeping  after 
Christmas."  No  doubt  a  sentimental  person  would 
say  that  Washington  ought  to  have  kept  these  old 
servants,  but  he  had  many  other  superannuated  serv 
ants  of  the  human  kind  upon  his  hands,  so  he  replied 
that  Whiting  might  dispose  of  the  old  horses  "as  you 
judge  best  for  my  interest/' 

Now  and  then  his  horses  met  with  accidents.  Thus 
on  February  22,  1760,  his  horse  "Jolly"  got  his  right 
foreleg  "mashed  to  pieces,"  probably  by  a  falling 
limb.  "Did  it  up  as  well  as  I  could  this  night."  "Sat 
urday,  Feb.  23d.  Had  the  Horse  Slung  upon  Can 
vas  and  his  leg  fresh  set,  following  Markleham's  di 
rections  as  well  as  I  could."  Two  days  later  the 
horse  fell  out  of  the  sling  and  hurt  himself  so  badly 
that  he  had  to  be  killed. 

Of  Washington's  skill  as  a  trainer  of  horses  his 
friend  De  Chastellux  writes  thus:  "The  weather 


THE    STOCKMAN  135 

being  fair,  on  the  26th,  I  got  on  horseback,  after 
breakfasting  with  the  general — he  was  so  attentive 
as  to  give  me  the  horse  he  rode,  the  day  of  my  ar 
rival,  which  I  had  greatly  commended —  I  found 
him  as  good  as  he  is  handsome;  but  above  all,  per 
fectly  well  broke,  and  well  trained,  having  a  good 
mouth,  easy  in  hand,  and  stopping  short  in  a  gallop 
without  bearing  the  bit —  I  mention  these  minute 
particulars,  because  it  is  the  general  himself  who 
breaks  all  his  own  horses ;  and  he  is  a  very  excellent 
and  bold  horseman,  leaping  the  highest  fences,  and 
going  extremely  quick,  without  standing  upon  his 
stirrups,  bearing  on  the  bridle,  or  letting  his  horse 
run  wild, — circumstances  which  young  men  look 
upon  as  so  essential  a  part  of  English  horsemanship, 
that  they  would  rather  break  a  leg  or  an  arm  than 
renounce  them." 

Comparatively  few  farmers  in  Virginia  kept 
sheep,  yet  as  early  as  1758  Washington's  overseer 
at  Mount  Vernon  reported  sixty-five  old  sheep  and 
forty-eight  lambs;  seven  years  later  the  total  num 
ber  was  one  hundred  fifty-six.  The  next  year  he 
records  that  he  "put  my  English  Ram  Lamb  to  65 
Ewes,"  so  that  evidently  he  was  trying  to  improve 
the  breed.  What  variety  this  ram  belonged  to  he 
does  not  say.  Near  the  end  of  his  career  he  had  some 


136    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

of  Bakewell's  breed,  an  English  variety  that  put  on 
fat  rapidly  and  hence  were  particularly  desirable  for 
mutton. 

During  his  long  absences  from  home  his  sheep 
suffered  grievously,  for  sheep  require  a  skilled  care 
that  few  of  his  managers  or  overseers  knew  how  to 
give.  But  sheep  were  an  important  feature  of  the 
English  agriculture  that  he  imitated,  and  he  per 
sisted  in  keeping  them.  In  1793  he  had  over  six 
hundred. 

"Before  I  left  home  in  the  spring  of  1789,"  he 
wrote  to  Arthur  Young,  "I  had  improved  that  spe 
cies  of  my  stock  so  much  as  to  get  5%  Ibs  of  Wool 
as  the  average  of  the  fleeces  of  my  whole  flock, — 
and  at  the  last  shearing  they  did  not  yield  me  2^ 
Ibs. — By  procuring  (if  I  am  able)  good  rams  and 
giving  the  necessary  attention,  I  hope  to  get  them  up 
again  for  they  are  with  me,  as  you  have  declared 
them  to  be  with  you,  that  part  of  my  stock  in  which 
I  most  delight." 

In  1789,  by  request,  he  sent  Young  "a  fleece  of 
a  midling  size  and  quality."  Young  had  this  made 
up  into  cloth  and  returned  it  to  the  General. 

In  1793  we  find  our  Farmer  giving  such  instruc 
tions  to  Whiting  as  to  cull  out  the  unthrifty  sheep 


THE   STOCKMAN  137 

and  transform  them  into  mutton  and  to  choose  a 
few  of  the  best  young  males  to  keep  as  rams.  Whit 
ing,  however,  did  not  manage  the  flock  well,  for  the 
following  February  we  find  Pearce,  the  new  mana 
ger,  writing: 

"I  am  sorry  to  have  to  inform  you  that  the  stock 
of  sheep  at  Both  Union  and  Dogue  Run  farms  are 
Some  of  them  Dicing  Every  Week — &  a  great  many 
of  Them  will  be  lost,  let  what  will  be  done —  Since 
I  came  I  have  had  shelters  made  for  them  &  Troughs 
to  feed  them  In  &  to  give  them  salt — &  have  at 
tended  to  them  myself  &  was  In  hopes  to  have  saved 
those  that  I  found  to  be  weak,  but  they  were  too  far 
gone — and  Several  of  the  young  Cattle  at  Dogue 
Run  was  past  all  Recovery  when  I  come  &  some  have 
died  already  &  several  more  I  am  affraid  must  die 
before  spring,  they  are  so  very  poor  and  weak." 

Washington,  according  to  his  own  account,  was 
the  first  American  to  attempt  the  raising  of  mules. 
Soon  after  the  Revolution  he  asked  our  representa 
tive  in  Spain  to  ascertain  whether  it  would  be  possi 
ble  "to  procure  permission  to  extract  a  Jack  ass  of 
the  best  breed."  At  that  time  the  exportation  of  these 
animals  from  Spain  was  forbidden  by  law,  but  Flor 
ida  Blanca,  the  Spanish  minister  of  state,  brought 


138    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  king,  who  in  a  fit 
of  generosity  proceeded  to  send  the  American  hero 
two  jacks  and  two  jennets.  One  of  the  jacks  died 
on  the  way  over,  but  the  other  animals,  in  charge  of 
a  Spanish  caretaker,  reached  Boston,  and  Washing 
ton  despatched  an  overseer  to  escort  them  to  Mount 
Vernon,  where  they  arrived  on  the  fifth  of  Decem 
ber,  1785.  An  interpreter  named  Captain  Sullivan 
was  brought  down  from  Alexandria,  and  through 
him  the  General  propounded  to  the  caretaker  many 
grave  inquiries  regarding  the  care  of  the  beasts,  the 
answers  being  carefully  set  down  in  writing. 

"Royal  Gift,"  as  he  was  duly  christened,  probably 
by  the  negro  groom,  Peter,  who  seems  to  have  con 
sidered  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  minister  to  any  but 
royalty,  was  a  large  animal.  According  to  careful 
measurements  taken  on  the  porch  at  Mount  Vernon 
he  was  fifteen  hands  high,  and  his  body  and  limbs 
were  very  large  in  proportion  to  his  height ;  his  ears 
were  fourteen  inches  long,  and  his  vocal  cords  were 
good.  He  was,  however,  a  sluggish  beast,  and  the 
sea  voyage  had  affected  him  so  unfavorably  that  for 
some  time  he  was  of  little  use.  In  letters  to  Lafay 
ette  and  others  Washington  commented  facetiously 
upon  the  beast's  failure  to  appreciate  "republican  en- 


\\R* 

°  $  4      ^  i 
»S^K^ 

ii-K^*    •> 

n^M 
« 


•fi?   2^ 

•n 


CO 


9mr*w 


THE    STOCKMAN  139 

joyment."  Ultimately,  however,  "Royal  Gift"  re 
covered  his  strength  and  ambition  and  proved  a  val 
uable  piece  of  property.  He  was  presently  sent  on  a 
lour  of  the  South,  and  while  in  South  Carolina  was 
in  the  charge  of  Colonel  William  Washington,  a 
hero  of  the  Cowpens  and  many  other  battles.  The 
profits  from  the  tour  amounted  to  $678.64,  yet  poor 
"Royal  Gift"  seems  to  have  experienced  some  rough 
usage  on  the  way  thither,  arriving  lame  and  thin  and 
in  a  generally  debilitated  condition.  The  General 
wrote  to  the  Colonel  about  it  thus : 

"From  accounts  which  I  have  received  from  some 
gentlemen  in  Virginia  he  was  most  abominably 
treated  on  the  journey  by  the  man  to  whom  he  was 
entrusted; — for,  instead  of  moving  him  slowly  and 
steadily  along  as  he  ought,  he  was  prancing  (with 
the  Jack)  from  one  public  meeting  or  place  to  an 
other  in  a  gate  which  could  not  but  prove  injurious 
to  an  animal  who  had  hardly  ever  been  out  of  a  walk 
before — and  afterward,  I  presume,  (in  order  to  re 
cover  lost  time)  rushed  him  beyond  what  he  was 
able  to  bear  the  remainder  of  the  journey." 

No  doubt  the  beast  aroused  great  curiosity  along 
the  wray  among  people  who  had  never  before  set  eyes 
upon  such  a  creature.  We  can  well  believe  that  the 


140    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

cry,  "General  Washington's  jackass  is  coming!"  was 
always  sufficient  to  attract  a  gaping  crowd.  And 
many  would  be  the  sage  comments  upon  the  animal's 
voice  and  appearance. 

In  1786  Lafayette  sent  Washington  from  the 
island  of  Malta  another  jack  and  two  jennets,  be 
sides  some  Chinese  pheasants  and  partridges.  The 
animals  landed  at  Baltimore  in  November  and 
reached  Mount  Vernon  in  good  condition  later  in 
the  month.  To  Campion,  the  man  who  accompanied 
them,  Washington  gave  "30  Louis  dores  for  his 
trouble."  The  new  jack,  the  "Knight  of  Malta,"  as 
he  was  called,  was  a  smaller  beast  than  "Royal 
Gift,"  and  his  ears  measured  only  twelve  inches,  but 
he  was  well  formed  and  had  the  ferocity  of  a  tiger. 

By  crossing  the  two  strains  Washington  ultimately 
obtained  a  jack  called  "Compound,"  who  united  in 
his  person  the  size  and  strength  of  the  "Gift"  with 
the  courage  and  activity  of  the  "Knight."  The  Gen 
eral  also  raised  many  mules,  which  he  found  to  be 
good  workers  and  more  cheaply  kept  in  condition 
than  horses. 

Henceforward  the  peaceful  quiet  of  Mount  Ver 
non  was  broken  many  times  a  day  by  sounds  which, 


THE    STOCKMAN  141 

if  not  musical  or  mellifluous,  were  at  least  jubilant 
and  joyous. 

Evidently  the  sounds  in  no  way  disturbed  the 
General,  for  in  1788  we  find  him  describing  the  ac 
quisitions  in  enthusiastic  terms  to  Arthur  Young.  He 
called  the  mules  "a  very  excellent  race  of  animals," 
cheap  to  keep  and  willing  workers.  Recalling,  per 
haps,  that  a  king's  son  once  rode  upon  a  mule,  he 
proposes  to  breed  heavy  ones  from  "Royal  Gift"  for 
draft  purposes  and  lighter  ones  from  the  "Knight" 
for  saddle  or  carriage.  He  adds :  "Indeed  in  a  few 
years,  I  intend  to  drive  no  other  in  my  carriage,  hav 
ing  appropriated  for  the  sole  purpose  of  breeding 
them,  upwards  of  twenty  of  my  best  mares." 

Ah,  friend  George,  what  would  the  world  not  give 
to  see  thee  and  thy  wife  Martha  driving  in  the 
Mount  Vernon  coach  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
behind  four  such  long-eared  beasts! 

In  all  his  stock  raising,  as  in  most  other  matters, 
Washington  was  greatly  hampered  by  the  careless 
ness  of  his  overseers  and  slaves.  It  is  notorious  that 
free  negroes  will  often  forget  or  fail  to  water  and 
feed  their  own  horses,  and  it  may  easily  be  believed 
that  when  not  influenced  by  fear,  slaves  would  neg- 


142    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

lect  the  stock  of  their  master.  Among  the  General's 
papers  I  have  found  a  list  of  the  animals  that  died 
upon  his  Mount  Vernon  estate  from  April  16,  1789, 
to  December  25,  1790.  In  that  period  of  about 
twenty  months  he  lost  thirty-three  horses,  thirty-two 
cattle  and  sixty-five  sheep !  Considering  the  number 
of  stock  he  had,  a  fifth  of  that  loss  would  have  been 
excessive.  During  most  of  the  period  he  was  away 
from  home  looking  after  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
and  in  his  absence  his  own  affairs  suffered. 

Hardly  a  report  of  his  manager  did  not  contain 
some  bad  news.  Thus  one  of  January,  1791,  states 
that  "the  Young  black  Brood  Mare,  with  a  long  tail, 
which  Came  from  Pennsylvania,  said  to  be  four 
Years  old  next  spring  .  .  .  was  found  with  her 
thigh  broke  quite  in  two."  This  happened  on  the 
Mansion  House  farm.  On  another  farm  a  sheep  was 
reported  to  have  been  killed  by  dogs  while  a  second 
had  died  suddenly,  perhaps  from  eating  some  poi 
sonous  plant. 

Dogs,  in  fact,  constituted  an  ever  present  menace 
to  the  sheep  and  it  was  only  by  constant  watchful 
ness  that  the  owner  kept  his  negroes  from  overrun 
ning  the  place  with  worthless  curs.  In  1792  he  wrote 
to  his  manager :  "I  not  only  approve  of  your  killing 


THE   STOCKMAN  143 

those  Dogs  which  have  been  the  occasion  of  the  late 
loss,  &  of  thinning  the  Plantations  of  others,  but 
give  it  as  a  positive  order  that  after  saying  what 
dog,  or  dogs  shall  remain,  if  any  negro  presumes 
under  any  pretence  whatsoever,  to  preserve,  or  bring 
one  into  the  family,  that  he  shall  be  severely  pun 
ished,  and  the  dog  hanged. —  I  was  obliged  to  adopt 
this  practice  whilst  I  resided  at  home,  and  from  the 
same  motive,  that  is  for  the  preservation  of  my 
Sheep  and  Hogs.  .  .  .  It  is  not  for  any  good 
purpose  Negroes  raise,  and  keep  dogs;  but  to  aid 
them  in  their  night  robberies;  for  it  is  astonishing 
to  see  the  command  under  which  the  dogs  are." 

After  the  Revolution,  in  imitation  of  English 
farmers,  he  made  use  of  hurdles  in  pasturing  sheep 
and  milk  cows.  Thereby  he  secured  more  even  dis 
tribution  of  the  manure,  which  was  one  of  his  main 
objects  in  raising  stock. 

Washington's  interest  in  cattle  seems  to  have  been 
less  intense  than  was  the  case  with  some  other  kinds 
of  stock.  He  always  had  a  great  number  of  cows, 
bulls,  oxen  and  calves  upon  his  farms — in  1793  over 
three  hundred  "black  cattle"  of  all  sorts.  He  was  ac 
customed  to  brand  his  cattle  with  the  letters  "G. 
W.,"  the  location  of  the  brand  on  the  body  indicat- 


144    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

ing  the  farm  on  which  the  beast  was  raised.  To  what 
extent  he  endeavored  to  improve  the  breed  of  his 
cattle  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  I  have  found  that  as 
early  as  1770  he  owned  an  English  bull,  which  in 
July  he  killed  and  sold  to  the  crew  of  the  British 
frigate  Boston,  which  lay  in  the  Potomac  off  his 
estate.  In  1797  he  made  inquiries  looking  toward 
the  purchase  of  an  improved  bull  calf  from  a  cattle 
breeder  named  Gough,  but  upon  learning  that  the 
price  was  two  hundred  dollars  he  decided  not  to 
invest.  Gough,  however,  heard  of  Washington's 
interest  in  his  animals,  and  being  an  admirer  of  the 
General,  gave  him  a  calf.  An  English  farmer, 
Parkinson,  who  saw  the  animal  in  1798,  describes 
him  in  terms  the  reverse  of  enthusiastic,  and  of  this 
more  hereafter. 

A  large  part  of  the  heavy  work  on  all  the  farms 
was  done  by  oxen.  In  November,  1785,  there  were 
thirteen  yoke  of  these  beasts  on  the  Mount  Vernon 
estate  and  the  number  was  sometimes  still  larger.  In 
1786  Washington  recorded  putting  "a  Collar  on  a 
large  Bull  in  order  to  break  him  to  the  draft. — at 
first  he  was  sulky  and  restive  but  came  to  by  de 
grees."  The  owner  always  aimed  to  have  enough 
oxen  broken  so  that  none  would  have  to  be  worked 


THE    STOCKMAN  145 

too  hard,  but  he  did  not  always  succeed  in  his  aim. 
When  they  attained  the  age  of  eight  years  the  oxen 
were  usually  fattened  and  killed  for  beef. 

The  management  of  the  milk  cows  seems  to  have 
been  very  poor.  In  May,  1793,  we  find  the  absent 
owner  writing  to  his  manager:  "If  for  the  sake  of 
making  a  little  butter  (  for  which  I  shall  get  scarcely 
anything)  my  calves  are  starved,  &  die,  it  may  be 
compared  to  stopping  the  spigot,  and  opening  the 
faucit."  Evidently  the  making  of  butter  was  almost 
totally  discontinued,  for  in  his  last  instructions,  com 
pleted  only  a  few  days  before  his  death,  he  wrote : 
"And  It  is  hoped  and  will  be  expected,  that  more 
effectual  measures  will  be  pursued  to  make  butter 
another  year;  for  it  is  almost  beyond  belief,  that 
from  101  Cows  actually  reported  on  a  late  enumera 
tion  of  the  Cattle,  that  I  am  obliged  to  buy  butter  for 
the  use  of  my  family." 

In  his  later  years  he  became  somewhat  interested 
in  the  best  methods  of  feeding  cattle  and  once  sug 
gested  that  the  experiment  be  tried  of  fattening  one 
bullock  on  potatoes,  another  on  corn,  and  a  third  on 
a  mixture  of  both,  "keeping  an  exact  account  of  the 
time  they  are  fatting,  and  what  is  eaten  of  each,  and 
of  hay,  by  the  'different  steers ;  that  a  judgment  may 


146    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

be  formed  of  the  best  and  least  expensive  mode  of 
stall  feeding  beef  for  market,  or  for  my  own  use." 

During  his  early  farming  operations  his  swine 
probably  differed  little  if  at  all  from  the  razor-backs 
of  his  neighbors.  They  ranged  half  wild  in  the 
woods  in  summer  and  he  once  expressed  the  opinion 
that  fully  half  the  pigs  raised  were  stolen  by  the 
slaves,  who  loved  roast  pork  fully  as  well  as  did 
their  master.  In  the  fall  the  shoats  were  shut  up  to 
fatten.  More  than  a  hundred  were  required  each 
year  to  furnish  meat  for  the  people  on  the  estate; 
the  average  weight  was  usually  less  than  one  hun 
dred  forty  pounds.  Farmers  in  the  Middle  West 
would  to-day  have  their  Poland  Chinas  or  Durocs 
of  the  same  age  weighing  two  hundred  fifty  to  three 
hundred  pounds.  Still  the  smallness  of  Washington's 
animals  does  not  necessarily  indicate  such  bad  man 
agement  as  may  at  first  glance  appear.  Until  of  con 
siderable  size  the  pigs  practically  made  their  own 
living,  eating  roots  and  mast  in  the  woods,  and  they 
did  not  require  much  grain  except  during  fattening 
time.  And,  after  all,  as  the  story  has  it,  "what's 
time  to  a  hawg?" 

In  his  later  years  he  seems  to  have  taken  more 
interest  in  his  pigs.  By  1786  he  had  decided  that 


THE    STOCKMAN  147 

when  fattening  they  ought  to  be  put  into  closed 
pens  with  a  plank  floor,  a  roof,  running  water  and 
good  troughs.  A  visitor  to  Mount  Vernon  in  1798 
says  that  he  had  "about  150  of  the  Guinea  kind,  with 
short  legs  and  hollow  back,"  so  it  is  evident  that  he 
was  experimenting  with  new  breeds.  These  Guinea 
swine  were  red  in  color,  and  it  is  said  that  the  breed 
was  brought  to  America  from  west  Africa  by  slave 
traders.  It  was  to  these  animals  that  Washington 
fed  the  by-products  of  his  distillery. 

In  the  slaughtering  of  animals  he  tried  experi 
ments  as  he  did  in  so  many  other  matters.  In  1768 
he  killed  a  wether  sheep  which  weighed  one  hundred 
three  pounds  gross.  He  found  that  it  made  sixty 
pounds  of  meat  worth  three  pence  per  pound,  five 
and  a  half  of  tallow  at  seven  and  a  half  pence,  three 
of  wool  at  fifteen  pence,  and  the  skin  was  worth  one 
shilling  and  three  pence,  a  total  of  £1.3.5.  One  ob 
ject  of  such  experiments  was  to  ascertain  whether 
it  was  more  profitable  to  butcher  animals  or  sell  them 
on  the  hoof. 

Washington  also  raised  chickens,  turkeys,  swans, 
ducks,  geese  and  various  other  birds  and  beasts.  In 
1788  Gouverneur  Morris  sent  him  two  Chinese  pigs 
and  with  them  "a  pair  of  Chinese  geese,  which  are 


148    GEORGE  WASHINGTON— FARMER 

really  the  foolishest  geese  I  ever  beheld;  for  they 
choose  all  times  for  setting  but  in  the  spring,  and 
one  of  them  is  even  now  [November]  actually  en 
gaged  in  that  business."  Of  some  golden  pheasants 
that  had  been  brought  from  China  the  General  said 
that  before  seeing  the  birds  he  had  considered  that 
pictures  of  them  must  be  "only  works  of  fancy,  but 
now  I  find  them  to  be  only  Portraits." 

The  fact  is  that  his  friends  and  admirers  sent 
him  so  many  feathered  or  furred  creatures  that  to 
ward  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  the  proprietor  of  a 
considerable  zoo. 

Notwithstanding  mismanagement  by  his  em 
ployees  and  slaves,  Washington  accumulated  much 
valuable  domestic  stock.  In  his  will,  made  the  year 
of  his  death,  he  lists  the  following:  "1  Covering 
horse,  5  Cob.  horses—  4  Riding  do —  Six  brood 
mares —  20  working  horses  and  mares, —  2  Cover 
ing  jacks  &  3  young  ones  10  she  asses —  42  working 
mules —  15  younger  ones.  329  head  of  horned  cat 
tle.  640  head  of  Sheep,  and  the  large  stock  of  hogs, 
the  precise  number  unknown/*  He  further  states 
that  his  manager  believes  the  stock  worth  seven 
thousand  pounds,  but  he  conservatively  sets  it  down 
at  fifteen  thousand  six  hundred  fifty-three  dollars. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  HORTICULTURIST  AND  LANDSCAPE  GARDENER 

WASHINGTON'S  work  as  a  horticulturist 
prior  to  the  educating  influences  of  the  Rev 
olution  was  mostly  utilitarian.  That  he  had  a  peach 
orchard  as  early  as  1760  is  proven  by  an  entry  in 
his  diary  for  February  22 :  "Laid  in  part,  the  Worm 
of  a  fence  round  the  Peach  orchard."  Just  where 
this  orchard  stood  I  am  not  quite  certain,  but  it  was 
probably  on  the  slope  near  the  old  tomb. 

He  learned  how  to  propagate  and  "wed"  his  own 
trees  and  in  1763  was  particularly  active.  On  March 
21st  he  recorded  that  he  had  "Grafted  40  cherries, 
viz  12  Bullock  Hearts,  18  very  fine  May  Cherry,  10 
Coronation.  Also  grafted  12  Magnum  Bonum 
Plums.  Also  planted  4  Nuts  of  the  Mediterranean 
Pame  in  the  Pen  where  the  Chestnut  grows — sticks 
by  East.  Note,  the  Cherrys  and  Plums  "came  from 
Collo.  Masons  Nuts  from  Mr.  Gr  [een'si]  Set  out 
55  cuttings  of  the  Madeira  Grape." 

149 


150    GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

A  little  later  he  grafted  quinces  on  pear  and  apple 
stocks;  also  he  grafted  "Spanish  pairs,"  "Butter 
pears/'  "Bergamy  Pears,"  "Newtown  Pippins,"  "43 
of  the  Maryland  Red  Strick,"  etc.,  and  transplanted 
thirty-five  young  crab  scions.  These  scions  he  ob 
tained  by  planting  the  pumice  of  wild  crab  apples 
from  which  cider  had  been  made.  They  were  sup 
posed  to  make  hardier  stocks  than  those  grown  from 
ordinary  seeds. 

He  grafted  many  cherries,  plums,  etc.,  in  March, 
1764,  and  yet  again  in  the  spring  of  1765,  when  he 
put  English  mulberry  scions  on  wild  mulberry 
stocks.  In  that  year  "Peter  Green  came  to  me  a 
Gardener."  In  1768  and  1771  he  planted  grapes  in 
the  inclosure  below  the  vegetable  garden  and  in 
March,  1775,  he  again  grafted  cherries  and  also 
planted  peach  seeds  and  seeds  of  the  "Mississippi 
nut"  or  pecan. 

Long  before  this  he  had  begun  to  gather  fruits 
from  his  early  trees  and  vines.  Being  untroubled 
by  San  Jose  scale  and  many  other  pests  that  now 
make  life  miserable  to  the  fruit  grower,  he  grew 
fine  products  and  no  doubt  enjoyed  them. 

His  esthetic  sense  was  not  yet  fully  developed,  but 
he  was  always  desirous  of  having  his  possessions 


HORTICULTURIST  151 

make  a  good  appearance,  and  by  1 768  was  beginning 
to  think  of  beautifying  his  grounds.  In  that  year  he 
expressed  a  wish  that  he  later  carried  out,  namely 
to  have  about  his  mansion  house  every  possible  speci 
men  of  native  tree  or  shrub  noted  for  beauty  of 
form,  leaf  or  flower. 

Even  amid  the  trials  of  the  Revolution  this  desire 
was  not  forgotten.  In  1782  he  directed  Lund  Wash 
ington,  his  manager,  to  plant  locusts  and  other  orna 
mental  trees  and  shrubs  at  the  ends  of  the  house.  He 
wrote  that  such  trees  would  be  more  likely  to  live  if 
taken  from  the  open  fields  than  from  the  woods  be 
cause  the  change  of  environment  would  be  less  pro 
nounced.  To  what  extent  the  work  was  carried  I 
have  been  unable  to  ascertain,  for,  as  elsewhere 
stated,  very  little  of  his  correspondence  with  his 
manager  during  these  years  survives. 

He  returned  from  the  Revolution  with  a  strong 
desire  to  beautify  his  estate,  a  desire  in  part  due  no 
doubt  to  seeing  beautiful  homes  elsewhere  and  to 
contact  with  cultured  people,  both  Americans  and 
foreigners.  One  of  his  first  tasks  was  to  rebuild  and 
enlarge  his  house.  From  a  small  house  of  eight 
rooms  he  transformed  Mount  Vernon  into  the  pres 
ent  large  mansion,  ninety-six  feet  and  four  inches 


152     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

long  by  thirty-two  feet  in  depth,  with  two  floors  and 
an  attic,  an  immense  cellar  and  the  magnificent  por 
tico  overlooking  the  Potomac.  The  plans  and  speci 
fications  he  drew  with  his  own  hands,  and  those  who 
have  visited  the  place  will  hardly  deny  that  the  man 
sion  fits  well  into  its  setting  and  that,  architects  tell 
us,  is  a  prime  consideration.  The  flagstones  for  the 
floor  of  the  portico  he  imported  from  Whitehaven, 
England,  and  these  still  remain  in  place,  though 
many  are  cracked  or  broken. 

The  portico  runs  the  entire  length  of  the  house,  is 
over  fourteen  feet  deep  and  its  floor  is  one  hundred 
twenty- four  feet  ten  and  one-half  inches  above  high 
water-mark,  according  to  calculations  made  by 
Washington  himself.  From  it  one  commands  miles 
of  the  Potomac  and  of  the  Maryland  shore  and  there 
are  few  such  noble  prospects  in  America.  Wash 
ington  owned  a  telescope  and  spy  glasses  and  with 
them  could  watch  the  movements  of  ships  and  boats 
on  the  river.  The  portico  was  a  sort  of  try  sting  place 
for  the  family  and  visitors  on  summer  afternoons 
and  evenings,  and  some  of  the  thirty  or  so  Windsor 
chairs  bought  for  it  are  still  in  existence. 

This  was  the  second  time  our  Farmer  reconstructed 
his  house,  as  in  1758-60  he  had  made  numerous  al- 


West  Front  of  Mansion   House,   Showing  Bowling  Green  and 
Part  of  Serpentine  Drive 


Experimental    Plot,    with    Servants'    Quarters    (restored)    in    Background 


HORTICULTURIST  153 

terations.*  In  1758  he  paid  John  Patterson  £328.0.5 
for  work  done  upon  it,  and  the  whole  house  was 
pretty  thoroughly  renovated  and  remodeled  in  prep 
aration  for  the  reception  of  a  new  mistress.  In 
March,  1760,  we  find  the  owner  contracting  with 
William  Triplett  "to  build  me  two  houses  in  front 
of  my  house  (plastering  them  also)  and  running 
walls  to  them  from  the  great  house  and  from  the 
great  house  to  the  washouse  and  kitchen  also."  By 
the  *' front"  he  means  the  west  front,  as  that  part 
toward  the  river  is  really  the  rear  of  the  mansion. 
Hitherto  the  house  had  stood  detached  and  these 
walls  were  the  originals  of  the  colonnades,  still  a 
noticeable  feature  of  the  building. 

Owing  to  the  absence  of  a  diary  of  his  home  ac 
tivities  during  1784  we  can  not  trace  in  detail  his 
work  that  year  upon  either  his  house  or  grounds,  but 
we  know  such  facts  as  that  he  was  ordering  ma 
terials  for  the  house  and  that  he  had  his  French 
friend  Malesherbes  and  others  collecting  vines  and 
plants  for  him. 

With  January  1,  1785,  he  began  a  new  diary,  and 

*  In  1775  a  Frenchman  was  engaged  to  panel  the  main  hall 
and  apply  stucco  ornaments  to  the  ceilings  of  the  parlor  and 
dining-room. 


154    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

from  it  we  ascertain  that  on  the  twelfth,  on  a  ride 
about  his  estate,  he  observed  many  trees  and  shrubs 
suitable  for  transplanting.  Thereafter  he  rarely  rode 
out  without  noticing  some  crab,  holly,  magnolia, 
pine  or  other  young  tree  that  would  serve  his  pur 
pose.  He  was  more  alive  to  the  beauties  of  nature 
than  he  had  once  been,  or  at  least  more  inclined  to 
comment  upon  them.  On  an  April  day  he  notes  that 
"the  flower  of  the  Sassafras  was  fully  out  and 
looked  well — an  intermixture  of  this  and  Red  bud 
I  conceive  would  look  very  pretty — the  latter 
crowned  with  the  former  or  vice  versa."  He  was  no 
gushing  spring  poet,  but  when  the  sap  was  running, 
the  flowers  blooming  and  the  birds  singing  he  felt  it 
all  in  his  heart — perhaps  more  deeply  than  do  some 
who  say  more  about  it. 

On  January  19th  of  this  year  he  began  laying  out 
his  grounds  on  a  new  plan.  This  plan,  as  completed, 
provided  for  sunken  walls  or  "Haw  has!"  at  the 
ends  of  the  mansion,  and  on  the  west  front  a  large 
elliptical  lawn  or  bowling  green  such  as  still  exists 
there.  Along  the  sides  of  the  lawn  he  laid  out  a  ser 
pentine  drive  or  carriage  way,  to  be  bordered  with  a 
great  variety  of  shade  trees  on  each  side  and  a 
"Wilderness"  on  the  outside.  At  the  extreme  west, 


HORTICULTURIST  155 

where  the  entrance  stood,  the  trees  were  omitted  so 
that  from  the  house  one  could  see  down  a  long  vista, 
cut  through  the  oaks  and  evergreens,  the  lodge  gate 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  away.  On  each  side  of  the 
opening  in  the  lawn  stood  a  small  artificial  mound, 
and  just  in  front  of  the  house  a  sun-dial  by  which 
each  day,  when  the  weather  was  clear,  he  set  his 
watch.  A  sun-dial  stands  on  the  same  spot  now  but, 
alas,  it  is  not  the  original.  That  was  given  away  or 
sold  by  one  of  the  subsequent  owners. 

This  same  spring  our  Farmer  records  planting 
ivy,  limes  and  lindens  sent  by  his  good  friend  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  of  New  York;  lilacs,  mock  oranges, 
aspen,  mulberries,  black  gums,  berried  thorns,  lo 
custs,  sassafras,  magnolia,  crabs,  service  berries,  ca- 
talpas,  papaws,  honey  locusts,  a  live  oak  from  Nor 
folk,  yews,  aspens,  swamp  berries,  hemlocks,  twelve 
horse  chestnut  sent  by  "Light  Horse  Harry"  Lee, 
twelve  cuttings  of  tree  box,  buckeye  nuts  brought  by 
him  the  preceding  year  from  the  mouth  of  Cheat 
River,  eight  nuts  from  a  tree  called  "the  Kentucke 
Coffee  tree,"  a  row  of  shell  bark  hickory  nuts  from 
New  York,  some  filberts  from  "sister  Lewis."  His 
brother  John  sent  him  four  barrels  of  holly  seeds, 
which  he  sowed  in  the  semicircle  north  of  the  front 


156    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

gate ;  in  the  south  semicircle,  from  the  kitchen  to  the 
south  "Haw  ha !" ;  and  from  the  servants'  hall  to  the 
north  "Haw  ha!" 

Nor  did  he  neglect  more  utilitarian  work,  for  in 
April  he  grafted  many  cherries,  pears  and  other 
fruit  trees.  Such  work  was  continued  at  intervals 
till  his  death. 

In  raising  fruit,  as  in  many  other  things,  he  was 
troubled  by  the  thieving  propensities  of  the  slaves. 
September  tenth  of  this  year  he  records  that  because 
of  the  scarcity  of  apples  and  the  depredations  that 
were  being  committed  "every  Night  upon  the  few  I 
have,  I  found  it  necessary  (tho  much  too  early)  to 
gather  and  put  them  up  for  Winter  use." 

The  spring  of  1785  proved  an  exceptionally  dry 
one  and  he  was  forced  to  be  absent  from  home  sev 
eral  days,  leaving  the  care  of  the  trees  and  shrubs  to 
his  careless  lazy  servants.  He  records  that  they  said 
that  they  watered  them  according  to  directions,  but 
he  seems  to  doubt  it.  At  all  events,  "Most  of  my 
transplanted  trees  have  a  sickly  look. —  The  small 
Pines  in  the  Wilderness  &re  entirely  dead. —  The 
larger  ones  in  the  Walks,  for  the  most  part  appear 
to  be  alive  (as  yet) — almost  the  whole  of  the  Holly 
are  dead — many  of  the  Ivy,  wch.  before  looked 


HORTICULTURIST  157 

healthy  &  well  seem  to  be  declining — few  of  the 
Crab  trees  had  put  forth  leaves;  not  a  single  Ash 
tree  has  unfolded  its  buds;  whether  owing  to  the 
trees  declining  or  any  other  cause,  I  know  not  .  .  . 
The  lime  trees,  which  had  some  appearance  of  Bud 
ding  when  I  went  away,  are  now  withering — and 
the  Horse  chestnut  &  Tree  box  from  Colo.  Harry 
Lee's  discover  little  signs  of  shooting. — the  Hem 
lock  is  almost  entirely  dead,  &  bereft  of  their  leaves; 
— and  so  are  the  live  Oak. — In  short  half  the  Trees 
in  the  Shrubberies  &  many  in  the  Walk  are  dead  & 
declin[in]g." 

Nevertheless  he  refused  to  be  discouraged  and 
proceeded  to  plant  forty-eight  mahogany  tree  seeds 
brought  by  his  nephew,  George  A.  Washington, 
from  the  West  Indies.  He  also  set  out  a  "Palmetto 
Royal"  in  the  garden  and  sowed  or  planted  sand 
box  trees,  palmettos,  physic  nuts,  pride  of  Chinas, 
live  oaks,  accacias,  bird  peppers,  "Caya  pepper," 
privet,  guinea  grass,  and  a  great  variety  of  Chinese 
grasses,  the  names  of  which,  such  as  "In  che  fa," 
"all  san  fa,"  "se  Ion  fa"  he  gravely  set  down  in  his 
diary. 

The  dry  weather  continued  and  presently  he  notes 
that  all  the  poplars,  black  gums  and  pines,  most  of 


158    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  mulberries,  all  of  the  crab  apples  and  papaws, 
most  of  the  hemlock  and  sassafras,  and  several  of 
the  cedars  are  dead,  while  the  tops  of  the  live  oaks 
are  dead  but  shoots  are  coming  up  from  the  trunks 
and  roots.  The  Chinese  grasses  are  in  a  bad  way, 
and  those  that  have  come  up  are  almost  entirely 
destroyed  either  by  insects  or  drought.  None  of  this 
grass  survived  the  winter,  though  he  took  the 
trouble  to  cover  it  with  straw. 

During  the  fall  of  1785  and  spring  of  1786  he 
sowed  the  lawn  with  English  grass  seeds,  replaced 
the  dead  trees  in  the  serpentine  walks  and  shrub 
beries,  and  sent  two  hundred  and  fifteen  apple  trees 
to  his  River  Plantation.  He  made  the  two  low 
mounds  already  mentioned  and  planted  thereon 
weeping  willows.  He  set  out  stocks  of  imported 
hawthorns,  four  yellow  jessamines,  twenty-five  of 
the  Palinurus  for  hedges,  forty-six  pistacia  nuts  and 
seventy-five  pyramidical  cypress,  which  last  were 
brought  to  him  by  the  botanist  Michaux  from  the 
King  of  France.  As  1786  was  one  of  the  wettest 
summers  ever  known,  his  plants  and  trees  lived  bet 
ter  than  they  had  done  the  preceding  year. 

During  this  period  and  until  the  end  of  his  life 
he  was  constantly  receiving  trees  and  shrubs  from 


HORTICULTURIST  1 59 

various  parts  of  the  world.  Thus  in  1794  he  sent 
to  Alexandria  by  Thomas  Jefferson  a  bundle  of 
"Poccon  [pecan]  or  Illinois  nut,"  which  in  some 
way  had  come  to  him  at  Philadelphia.  He  instructed 
the  gardener  to  set  these  out  at  Mount  Vernon,  also 
to  sow  some  seeds  of  the  East  India  hemp  that  had 
been  left  in  his  care.  The  same  year  thirty-nine 
varieties  of  tropical  plants,  including  the  bread  fruit 
tree,  came  to  him  from  a  well  wisher  in  Jamaica. 
At  other  times  he  sowed  seeds  of  the  cucumber 
tree,  chickory  and  "colliflower"  and  planted  ivy  and 
wild  honeysuckle.  Again  he  once  more  planted  pe 
cans  and  hickory  nuts.  It  can  hardly  be  that  at  his 
advanced  age  he  expected  to  derive  any  personal 
good  from  either  of  these  trees,  but  he  was  very 
fond  of  nuts,  eating  great  quantities  for  dessert,  and 
the  liking  inclined  him  to  grow  trees  that  produced 
them.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  matters,  he  planted 
for  the  benefit  of  posterity. 

In  order  to  care  for  his  exotic  plants  he  built 
adjoining  the  upper  garden  a  considerable  conserva 
tory  or  hothouse.  In  this  he  placed  many  of  the 
plants  sent  to  him  as  presents  and  also  purchased 
many  others  from  the  collection  of  the  celebrated 
botanist,  John  Bartram,  at  Philadelphia.  The  struc- 


160    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

hire,  together  with  the  servants'  quarters  adjoining, 
was  burned  down  in  December,  1835,  and  when  the 
historian  Lossing  visited  Mount  Vernon  in  1858 
nothing  remained  of  these  buildings  except  bare 
walls  crumbling  to  decay.  Of  the  movable  plants 
that  had  belonged  to  Washington  there  remained  in 
1858  only  a  lemon  tree,  a  century  plant  and  a  sago 
palm,  all  of  which  have  since  died.  The  conserva 
tory  and  servants'  quarters  have,  however,  been 
rebuilt  and  the  conservatory  restocked  with  plants 
such  as  Washington  kept  in  it.  The  buildings  prob 
ably  look  much  as  they  did  in  his  time. 

One  of  the  sights  to-day  at  Mount  Vernon  is  the 
formal  garden,  which  all  who  have  visited  the  place 
will  remember.  Strangely  enough  it  seems  impos 
sible  to  discover  exactly  when  this  was  laid  out  as 
it  now  stands.  The  guides  follow  tradition  and  tell 
visitors  that  Washington  set  out  the  box  hedge,  the 
principal  feature,  after  his  marriage,  and  that  he 
told  Martha  that  she  should  be  mistress  of  this 
flower  garden  and  he  the  master  of  the  vegetable 
garden.  It  is  barely  possible  that  he  did  set  out  the 
hedges  at  that  time,  but,  if  so,  it  must  have  been  in 
1759,  for  no  mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  diary 
begun  in  1760.  In  April,  1785,  we  find  by  his  diary 


HORTICULTURIST  161 

that  he  planted  twelve  cuttings  of  the  "tree  box" 
and  again  in  the  spring  of  1787  he  planted  in  his 
shrubberies  some  holly  trees,  "also  .  .  .  some  of 
the  slips  of  the  tree  box."  But  ot  box  hedges  I  can 
find  no  mention  in  any  of  the  papers  I  have  seen. 
One  guess  is  about  as  good  as  another,  and  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  if  they  were  planted  in  his 
time,  it  was  done  during  his  presidency  by  one  of 
his  gardeners,  perhaps  Butler  or  the  German,  Ehler. 
They  may  have  been  set  out  long  after  his  death. 
At  all  events  the  garden  was  modeled  after  the 
formal  gardens  of  Europe  and  the  idea  was  not 
original  with  him. 

East  of  the  formal  garden  lies  a  plot  of  ground 
that  he  used  for  agricultural  experiments.  The 
vegetable  garden  was  south  of  the  Bowling  Green 
and  separated  from  it  by  a  brick  wall.  Here  utility 
was  lord  and  a  great  profusion  of  products  was 
raised  for  the  table.  Washington  took  an  interest 
in  its  management  and  I  have  found  an  entry  in  his 
diary  recording  the  day  that  green  peas  were  avail 
able  for  the  first  time  that  year.  Evidently  he  was 
fond  of  them. 

The  bent  of  our  Farmer's  rnind  was  to  the  prac 
tical,  yet  he  took  pride  in  the  appearance  of  his 


162     GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

estate.  "I  shall  begrudge  no  reasonable  expense  that 
will  contribute  to  the  improvement  and  neatness  of 
my  farms,"  he  wrote  one  of  his  managers,  "for 
nothing  pleases  me  better  than  to  see  them  in  good 
order,  and  everything  trim,  handsome,  and  thriving 
about  them ;  nor  nothing  hurts  me  more  than  to  find 
them  otherwise." 

Live  hedges  tend  to  make  a  place  look  well  and  it 
was  probably  this  and  his  passion  for  trees  that 
caused  Washington  to  go  in  extensively  for  hedges 
about  his  farms.  They  took  the  place  of  wooden 
fences  and  saved  trees  and  also  grew  more  trees 
and  bushes.  His  ordinary  course  in  building  a  fence 
was  to  have  a  trench  dug  on  each  side  of  the  line 
and  the  dirt  thrown  toward  the  center.  Upon  the 
ridge  thus  formed  he  built  a  post  and  rail  fence  and 
along  it  planted  cedars,  locusts,  pines,  briars  or 
thorn  bushes  to  discourage  cattle  and  other  stock. 
The  trenches  not  only  increased  the  efficiency  of  the 
fence  but  also  served  as  ditches.  In  many  places 
they  are  still  discernible.  The  lines  of  the  hedges 
are  also  often  marked  in  many  places  by  trees  which, 
though  few  or  none  can  be  the  originals,  are  de 
scended  from  the  roots  or  seeds  of  those  trees. 
Cedar  and  locust  trees  are  particularly  noticeable. 


HORTICULTURIST  163 

In  1794  our  Farmer  had  five  thousand  whitethorn 
sent  from  England  for  hedge  purposes,  but  they 
arrived  late  in  the  spring  and  few  survived  and  even 
these  did  not  thrive  very  well.  Another  time  he  sent 
from  Philadelphia  two  bushels  of  honey  locust  seed 
to  be  planted  in  his  nursery.  These  are  only  in 
stances  of  his  activities  in  this  direction. 

Much  of  what  he  undertook  as  a  planter  of  trees 
failed  for  one  reason  or  another,  most  of  all  because 
he  attended  to  the  business  of  his  country  at  the  ex 
pense  of  his  own,  but  much  that  he  attempted  suc 
ceeded  and  enough  still  remains  to  enable  us  to  real 
ize  that  by  his  efforts  he  made  his  estate  attractive. 
He  was  no  Barbarian  or  Philistine.  He  had  a  sense 
of  beauty  and  it  is  only  in  recent  years  that  his 
countrymen,  absorbed  in  material  undertakings, 
have  begun  to  appreciate  the  things  that  he  was 
enjoying  so  long  ago. 

"The  visitor  at  Mount  Vernon  still  finds  a  charm 
no  art  alone  could  give,  in  trees  from  various  climes, 
each  a  witness  of  the  taste  that  sought,  or  the  love 
that  sent  them,  in  fields  which  the  desolating  step 
of  war  reverently  passed  by,  in  flowers  whose  root 
is  not  in  graves,  yet  tinged  with  the  lifeblood  of  the 
heart  that  cherished  them  from  childhood  to  old 


164    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

age.  On  those  acres  we  move  beneath  the  shade  or 
shelter  of  the  invisible  tree  which  put  forth  what 
ever  meets  the  eye,  and  has  left  some  sign  on  each 
object,  large  or  small.  Still  planted  beside  his  river, 
he  brings  forth,  fruit  in  his  season.  Nor  does  hir> 
leaf  wither." 


CHAPTER  XI 

WHITE  SERVANTS  AND  OVERSEERS 

IN  colonial  Virginia,  as  in  most  other  new  coun 
tries,  one  of  the  greatest  problems  that  con 
fronted  the  settlers  was  that  of  labor.  It  took  hu 
man  muscle  to  clear  away  the  forest  and  tend  the 
crops,  and  the  quantity  of  human  muscle  available 
was  small.  One  solution  of  the  problem  was  the 
importation  of  black  slaves,  and  of  this  solution  as 
it  concerned  Washington  something  will  be  said  in 
a  separate  chapter.  Another  solution  was  the  white 
indentured  servant. 

Some  of  these  white  servants  were  political  of 
fenders,  such  as  the  followers  of  Monmouth,  who 
were  punished  by  transportation  for  a  term  of  years 
or  for  life  to  the  plantations.  Others  were  criminals 
or  unfortunate  debtors  who  were  sold  in  America 
instead  of  being  sent  to  jail.  Others  were  persons 
who  had  been  kidnapped  and  carried  across  the  sea 
into  servitude.  Yet  others  were  men  and  women 

165 


166     GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

who  voluntarily  bound  themselves  to  work  for  a 
term  of  years  in  payment  of  their  passage  to  the 
colonies.  By  far  the  largest  number  of  the  white 
servants  in  Washington's  day  belonged  to  this  last- 
mentioned  class,  who  were  often  called  "redemp- 
tioners."  Some  of  these  were  ambitious,  well- 
meaning  people,  perhaps  skilled  artisans,  who  after 
working  out  their  time  became  good  citizens  and 
often  prospered.  A  few  were  even  well  educated. 
In  favor  of  the  convicts,  however,  little  could  be 
said.  In  general  they  were  ignorant  and  immoral 
and  greatly  lowered  the  level  of  the  population  in 
the  Southern  States,  the  section  to  which  most  of 
them  were  sent. 

Whether  they  came  to  America  of  their  own  free 
will  or  not  such  servants  were  subjected  to  stringent 
regulations  and  were  compelled  to  complete  their 
terms  of  service.  If  they  ran  away,  they  could  be 
pursued  and  brought  back  by  force,  and  the  papers 
of  the  day  were  full  of  advertisements  for  such 
absconders.  Owing  to  their  color  and  the  ease  with 
which  they  found  sympathizers  among  the  white 
population,  however,  the  runaways  often  managed 
to  make  good  their  escape. 

To  give  a  complete  list  of  Washington's  inden- 


WHITE    SERVANTS  167 

tured  servants,  even  if  it  were  possible,  would  be 
tedious  and  tiresome.  For  the  most  part  he  bought 
them  in  order  to  obtain  skilled  workmen.  Thus  in 
1760  we  find  him  writing  to  a  Doctor  Ross,  of 
Philadelphia,  to  purchase  for  him  a  joiner,  a  brick 
layer  and  a  gardener,  if  any  ship  with  servants  was 
in  port.  As  late  as  1786  he  bought  the  time  of  a 
Dutchman  named  Overdursh,  who  was  a  ditcher 
and  mower,  and  of  his  wife,  a  spinner,  washer  and 
milker;  also  their  daughter.  The  same  year  he 
"received  from  on  board  the  Brig  Anna,  from  Ire 
land,  two  servant  men  for  whom  I  agreed  yesterday 
— viz — Thomas  Ryan,  a  shoemaker,  and  Cavan 
Bowen  a  Tayler  Redemptioners  for  3  years  service 
by  Indenture."  These  cost  him  twelve  pounds  each. 
The  story  of  his  purchase  of  servants  for  his  western 
lands  is  told  in  another  place,  as  is  also  that  of  his 
plan  to  import  Palatines  for  the  same  purpose. 

On  the  day  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  but  before 
the  news  of  that  conflict  reached  Virginia,  two  of 
his  indentured  servants  ran  away  and  he  published 
a  lengthy  advertisement  of  them  in  the  Virginia 
Gazette,  offering  a  reward  of  forty  dollars  for  the 
return  of  both  or  twenty  dollars  for  the  return  of 
either.  They  were  described  as  follows: 


168    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

"THOMAS  SPEARS,  a  joiner,  born  in  Bristol, 
about  20  years  of  age,  5  feet  6  inches  and  a  half 
high,  slender  made.  He  has  light  grey  or  blueish 
colored  eyes,  a  little  pock-marked,  and  freckled,  with 
sandy  colored  hair,  cut  short;  his  voice  is  coarse, 
and  somewhat  drawling.  He  took  with  him  a  coat, 
waistcoat,  and  breeches,  of  light  brown  duffil,  with 
black  horn  buttons,  a  light  colored  cloth  waistcoat, 
old  leather  breeches,  check  and  oznabrig  shirts,  a 
pair  of  old  ribbed  ditto,  new  oznabrig  trowsers,  and 
a  felt  hat,  not  much  the  worse  for  wear.  WILLIAM 
WEBSTER,  a  brick  maker,  born  in  Scotland,  and 
talks  pretty  broad.  He  is  about  5  feet  six  inches 
high  and  well  made,  rather  turned  of  30,  with  light 
brown  hair,  and  roundish  face.  .  .  .  They  went 
off  in  a  small  yawl,  with  turpentine  sides  and  bot 
tom,  the  inside  painted  with  a  mixture  of  tar  and 
red  lead." 

In  the  course  of  his  business  career  Washington 
also  employed  a  considerable  number  of  free  white 
men,  who  likewise  were  usually  skilled  workers  or 
overseers.  He  commonly  engaged  them  for  the 
term  of  one  year  and  by  written  contracts,  which 
he  drew  up  himself,  a  thing  he  had  learned  to  do 
when  a  boy  by  copying  legal  forms.  Many  of  these 


WHITE    SERVANTS  169 

papers  still  survive  and  contracts  with  joiners  and 
gardeners  jostle  inaugural  addresses  and  opinions 
of  cabinet  meetings. 

As  a  rule  the  hired  employees  received  a  house, 
an  allowance  of  corn,  flour,  meat  and  perhaps  other 
articles,  the  money  payment  being  comparatively 
small. 

Some  of  the  contracts  contain  peculiar  stipula 
tions.  That  with  a  certain  overseer  provided :  "And 
whereas  there  are  a  number  of  whiskey  stills  very 
contiguous  to  the  said  Plantations,  and  many  idle, 
drunken  and  dissolute  People  continually  resorting 
the  same,  priding  themselves  in  debauching  sober 
and  well-inclined  Persons  the  said  Edd.  Voilett  doth 
promise  as  well  for  his  own  sake  as  his  employers 
to  avoid  them  as  he  ought." 

Probably  most  readers  have  heard  of  the  famous 
contract  with  the  gardener  Philip  Bater,  who  had 
a  weakness  for  the  output  of  stills  such  as  those 
mentioned  above.  It  was  executed  in  1787  and,  in 
consideration  of  Eater's  agreement  "not  to  be  dis 
guised  with  liquor  except  on  times  hereinafter  men 
tioned/'  provided  that  he  should  be  given  "four 
dollars  at  Christmas,  with  which  he  may  be  drunk 
four  days  and  four  nights ;  two  dollars  at  Easter  to 


170    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

effect  the  same  purpose ;  two  dollars  at  Whitsuntide 
to  be  drunk  for  two  days;  a  dram  in  the  morning, 
and  a  drink  of  grog  at  dinner  at  noon." 

Washington's  most  famous  white  servant  was 
Thomas  Bishop,  who  figures  in  some  books  as  a 
negro.  He  had  been  the  personal  servant  of  Gen 
eral  Braddock,  and  tradition  says  that  the  dying 
General  commended  him  to  Washington.  At  all 
events  Washington  took  him  into  his  service  at  ten 
pounds  per  year  and,  except  for  a  short  interval 
about  1760,  Bishop  remained  one  of  his  retainers 
until  death.  It  was  Bishop  and  John  Alton  who 
accompanied  Washington  on  his  trip  to  New  York 
and  Boston  in  1756 — that  trip  in  the  course  of 
which,  according  to  imaginative  historians,  the 
young  officer  became  enamored  of  the  heiress  Mary 
Phillipse.  Doubtless  the  men  made  a  brave  show 
along  the  way,  for  we  know  that  Washington  had 
ordered  for  them  "2  complete  livery  suits  for  serv 
ants  ;  with  a  spare  cloak  and  all  other  necessary  trim 
mings  for  two  suits  more.  I  would  have  you  choose 
the  livery  by  our  arms,  only  as  the  field  of  arms  is 
white,  I  think  the  clothes  had  better  not  be  quite  so, 
but  nearly  like  the  inclosed.  The  trimmings  and  fac 
ings  of  scarlet,  and  a  scarlet  waist  coat.  If  livery 


WHITE    SERVANTS  171 

lace  is  not  quite  disused,  I  should  be  glad  to  have 
the  cloaks  laced.  I  like  that  fashion  best,  and  two 
silver  laced  hats  for  the  above  servants." 

When  the  Revolution  came  Bishop  was  too  old 
to  take  the  field  and  was  left  at  home  as  the  man 
ager  of  a  plantation.  He  was  allowed  a  house,  for 
he  had  married  and  was  now  the  father  of  a  daugh 
ter.  He  lived  to  a  great  age,  but  on  fair  days,  when 
the  Farmer  was  at  home,  the  old  man  always  made 
it  a  point  to  grasp  his  cane  and  walk  out  to  the  road 
to  see  his  master  ride  by,  to  salute  him  and  to  pass 
a  friendly  word.  He  seems  to  have  thought  of  leav 
ing  Mount  Vernon  with  his  daughter  in  1794,  for 
the  President  wrote  to  Pearce :  "Old  Bishop  must 
be  taken  care  of  whether  he  goes  or  stays."  He  died 
the  following  January,  while  Washington  was  away 
in  Philadelphia. 

Custis  tells  an  amusing  story  of  Bishop's  daughter 
Sally.  Following  the  Revolution  two  of  Washing 
ton's  aides-de-camp,  Colonels  Smith  and  Hum 
phreys,  the  latter  a  poet  of  some  pretensions,  spent 
considerable  time  at  Mount  Vernon  arranging  the 
General's  military  papers.  One  afternoon  Smith 
strolled  out  from  the  Mansion  House  for  relaxation 
and  came  upon  Sally,  then  in  her  teens  and  old 


172    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

enough  to  be  interesting  to  a  soldier,  milking  a  cow. 
When  she  started  for  the  house  with  the  pail  of 
milk  the  Colonel  gallantly  stepped  forward  and 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  carry  it.  But  Sally  had 
heard  from  her  father  dire  tales  of  what  befell 
damsels  who  had  anything  to  do  with  military  men 
and  the  fact  that  Smith  was  a  fine-looking  young 
fellow  in  no  way  lessened  her  sense  of  peril.  In 
great  panic  she  flung  down  the  pail,  splashing  the 
contents  over  the  officer,  and  ran  screaming  to  the 
house.  Smith  followed,  intent  upon  allaying  her 
alarm  and  ran  plump  into  old  Bishop,  who  at  once 
accused  him  of  attempting  to  philander  with  the 
girl,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  the  Colonel's  explana 
tions,  and  declared  that  he  would  bring  word  of  the 
offense  to  his  honor  the  General,  nay  more,  to  Mrs. 
Washington ! 

In  great  alarm  the  Colonel  betook  himself  toward 
the  Mansion  House  pondering  upon  some  way  of 
getting  himself  out  of  the  scrape  he  had  fallen  into. 
At  last  he  bethought  himself  of  Billy  Lee,  the  mu 
latto  body  servant,  and  these  two  old  soldiers  pro 
ceeded  to  hold  a  council  of  war.  Smith  said :  "It's 
bad  enough,  Billy,  for  this  story  to  get  to  the  Gen 
eral's  ears,  but  to  those  of  the  lady  will  never  do; 


WHITE    SERVANTS  173 

and  then  there's  Humphreys,  he  will  be  out  upon 
me  in  a  d — d  long  poem  that  will  spread  my  mis 
fortunes  from  Dan  to  Beersheba!"  At  last  it  was 
decided  that  Billy  should  act  as  special  ambassador 
to  Bishop  and  endeavor  to  divert  him  from  his  pur 
pose.  Meanwhile  Bishop  had  got  out  his  old  clothes 
— Cumberland  cocked  hat  and  all — of  the  period  of 
the  French  War,  had  dressed  with  great  care  and, 
taking  up  his  staff,  had  laid  his  line  of  march 
straight  to  the  Mansion  House.  Billy  met  him  mid 
way  upon  the  road  and  much  skirmishing  ensued, 
Billy  taking  two  lines  of  attack:  first,  that  Smith 
was  a  perfect  gentleman,  and,  second,  that  Bishop 
had  no  business  to  have  such  a  devilishly  pretty 
daughter.  Finally  these  tactics  prevailed,  Bishop 
took  the  right  about,  and  a  guinea  dropped  into  the 
ambassador's  palm  completed  the  episode. 

In  due  time  Sally  lost  her  dreadful  fear  of  men 
and  married  the  plantation  carpenter,  Thomas 
Green,  with  whose  shiftless  ways,  described  else 
where,  Washington  put  up  for  a  long  time  for  the 
sake  of  "his  family."  Ultimately  Green  quitted 
Washington's  service  and  seems  to  have  deserted 
his  wife  or  else  died ;  at  all  events  she  and  her  family 
^vere  left  in  distressed  circumstances.  She  wrote  a 


174    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

letter  to  Washington  begging  assistance  and  he  in 
structed  his  manager  to  aid  her  to  the  extent  of  £20 
but  to  tell  her  that  if  she  set  up  a  shop  in  Alexan 
dria,  as  she  thought  of  doing,  she  must  not  buy  any 
thing  of  his  negroes.  He  seems  to  have  allowed  her 
a  little  wood,  flour  and  meat  at  killing  time  and  in 
1796  instructed  Pearce  that  if  she  and  her  family 
were  really  in  distress,  as  reported,  to  afford  them 
some  relief,  "but  in  my  opinion  it  had  better  be  in 
anything  than  money,  for  I  very  strongly  suspect 
that  all  that  has,  and  perhaps  all  that  will  be  given 
to  her  in  that  article,  is  applied  more  in  rigging 
herself,  than  in  the  purchase  of  real  and  useful  nec 
essaries  for  her  family." 

By  his  will  Washington  left  Sally  Green  and  Ann 
Walker,  daughter  of  John  Alton,  each  one  hundred 
dollars  in  "consideration  of  the  attachment  of  their 
father [s]  to  me." 

Alton  entered  Washington's  service  even  before 
Bishop,  accompanying  him  as  a  body  servant  on  the 
Braddock  campaign  and  suffering  a  serious  illness. 
He  subsequently  was  promoted  to  the  management 
of  a  plantation  and  enjoyed  Washington's  confi 
dence  and  esteem.  It  was  with  a  sad  heart  that 
Washington  penned  in  his  diary  for  1785:  "Last 


WHITE    SERVANTS  175 

night  Jno.  Alton  an  Overseer  of  mine  in  the  Neck — 
an  old  &  faithful  Servant  who  has  lived  with  me 
30  odd  years  died — and  this  evening  the  wife  of 
Thos.  Bishop,  another  old  Servant  who  had  lived 
with  me  an  equal  number  of  years  also  died." 

The  adoption  of  Mrs.  Washington's  two  youngest 
grandchildren,  Nelly  Custis  and  George  Washing 
ton  Custis,  made  necessary  the  employment  of  a  tu 
tor.  One  applicant  was  Noah  Webster,  who  visited 
Mount  Vernon  in  1785,  but  for  some  reason  did  not 
engage.  A  certain  William  Shaw  had  charge  for 
almost  a  year  and  then  in  1786  Tobias  Lear,  a  na 
tive  of  New  Hampshire  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
was  employed.  It  is  supposed  that  some  of  the  les 
sons  were  taught  in  the  small  circular  building 
in  the  garden;  Washington  himself  refers  to  it  as 
"the  house  in  the  Upper  Garden  called  the  School 
house." 

Lear's  duties  were  by  no  means  all  pedagogical 
and  ultimately  he  became  Washington's  private  sec 
retary.  In  Philadelphia  he  and  his  family  lived  in  the 
presidential  mansion.  Washington  had  for  him  "a 
particular  friendship,"  an  almost  fatherly  affection. 
His  interest  in  Lear's  little  son  Lincoln  was  almost 
as  great  as  he  would  have  bestowed  upon  his  own 


176    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

grandson.  Apropos  of  the  recovery  of  the  child 
from  a  serious  illness  he  wrote  in  1793:  "It  gave 
Mrs.  Washington,  myself,  and  all  who  knew  him 
sincere  pleasure  to  hear  that  our  little  favourite  had 
arrived  safe  and  was  in  good  health  at  Portsmouth 
— we  sincerely  wish  him  a  long  continuance  of  the 
latter — that  he  may  be  always  as  charming  and 
promising  as  he  now  is — that  he  may  live  to  be  a 
comfort  and  blessing  to  you — and  an  ornament  to 
his  Country.  As  a  token  of  my  affection  for  him 
I  send  him  a  ticket  in  the  lottery  that's  now  draw 
ing  in  the  Federal  City;  if  it  should  be  his  fortune 
to  draw  the  Hotel,  it  will  add  to  the  pleasure  I  feel 
in  giving  it." 

Truly  a  rather  singular  gift  for  a  child,  we  would 
think  in  these  days.  Let  us  see  how  it  turned  out. 
The  next  May  Washington  wrote  to  Lear,  then  in 
Europe  on  business  for  the  Potomac  Navigation 
Company,  of  which  he  had  become  president : 
"Often,  through  the  medium  of  Mr.  Langdon,  we 
hear  of  your  son  Lincoln,  and  with  pleasure,  that 
he  continues  to  be  the  healthy  and  sprightly  child 
he  formerly  was.  He  declared  if  his  ticket  should 
turn  up  a  prize,  he  would  go  and  live  in  the  Federal 
City.  He  did  not  consider,  poor  little  fellow,  that 


WHITE    SERVANTS  177 

some  of  the  prizes  would  hardly  build  him  a  baby 
house  nor  foresee  that  one  of  these  small  tickets 
would  be  his  lot,  having  drawn  no  more  than  ten 
dollars." 

Lear's  first  wife  had  died  the  year  before  of  yel 
low  fever  at  the  President's  house  in  Philadelphia, 
and  for  his  second  he  took  the  widow  of  George  A. 
Washington — Fanny — who  was  a  niece  of  Martha 
Washington,  being  a  daughter  of  Anna  Dandridge 
Bassett  and  Colonel  Burwell  Bassett.  This  alliance 
tended  to  strengthen  the  friendly  relations  between 
Lear  and  the  General.  In  Washington's  last  mo 
ments  Lear  held  his  dying  hand  and  later  penned  a 
noble  description  of  the  final  scene  that  reveals  a 
man  of  high  and  tender  sentiments  with  a  true  ap 
preciation  of  his  benefactor's  greatness.  Washing 
ton  willed  him  the  use  of  three  hundred  sixty  acres 
east  of  Hunting  Creek  during  life.  When  Fanny 
Lear  died,  Lear  married  Frances  Dandridge  Hen 
ley,  another  niece  of  Mrs.  Washington.  Lear's  de 
scendants  still  own  a  quilt  made  by  Martha  Wash 
ington  and  given  to  this  niece. 

During  part  at  least  of  Washington's  absence  in 
the  French  war  his  younger  brother  John  Augus 
tine,  described  in  the  General's  will  as  "the  intimate 


178    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

friend  of  my  ripened  age,"  had  charge  of  his  busi 
ness  affairs  and  resided  at  Mount  Vernon.  The  re 
lations  with  this  brother  were  unusually  close  and 
Washington  took  great  interest  in  John's  eldest  son 
Bushrod,  who  studied  law  and  became  an  associate 
justice  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court.  To  Bushrod 
the  General  gave  his  papers,  library,  the  Mansion 
House  Farm  and  other  land  and  a  residuary  share 
in  the  estate. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  during  1757-58  John 
Augustine  did  not  have  charge,  as  Mount  Vernon 
seems  to  have  been  under  the  oversight  of  a  certain 
Humphrey  Knight,  who  worked  the  farm  on  shares. 
He  was  evidently  a  good  farmer,  for  in  1758  Will 
iam  Fairfax,  who  kept  a  friendly  eye  upon  his  ab 
sent  neighbor's  affairs,  wrote:  "You  have  some  of 
the  finest  Tobacco  &  Corn  I  have  seen  this  year." 
The  summer  was,  however,  exceedingly  dry  and  the 
crop  was  good  in  a  relative  sense  only.  Knight  tried 
to  keep  affairs  in  good  running  order  and  the  men 
hard  at  work,  reporting  "as  to  ye  Carpentrs  I  have 
minded  em  all  I  posably  could,  and  has  whipt  em 
when  I  could  see  a  fault."  Knight  died  September 
9,  1758,  a  few  months  before  Washington's  mar 
riage. 


WHITE    SERVANTS  179 

Washington's  general  manager  during  the  Revo 
lution  was  Lund  Washington,  a  distant  relative.  He 
was  a  man  of  energy  and  ability  and  retired  against 
protests  in  1785.  Unfortunately  not  much  of  the 
correspondence  between  the  two  has  come  down  to 
us,  as  Lund  destroyed  most  of  the  General's  letters. 
Why  he  did  so  I  do  not  know,  though  possibly  it 
was  because  in  them  Washington  commented  freely 
about  persons  and  sections.  In  one  that  remains,  for 
example,  written  soon  after  his  assumption  of  com 
mand  at  Cambridge,  the  General  speaks  disparag 
ingly  of  some  New  England  officers  and  says  of  the 
troops  that  they  may  fight  well,  but  are  "dirty  fel 
lows."  When  the  British  visited  Mount  Vernon  in 
1781  Lund  conciliated  them  by  furnishing  them  pro 
visions,  thereby  drawing  down  upon  himself  a  re 
buke  from  the  owner,  who  said  that  he  would  rather 
have  had  his  buildings  burned  down  than  to  have 
purchased  their  safety  in  such  a  way.  Nevertheless 
the  General  appreciated  Lund's  services  and  the  two 
always  remained  on  friendly  terms. 

Lund  was  succeeded  by  Major  George  Augustine 
Washington,  son  of  the  General's  brother  Charles. 
From  his  youth  George  Augustine  had  attached 
himself  to  his  uncle's  service  and  fought  under  him 


180    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

in  the  Revolution,  a  part  of  the  time  on  the  staff  of 
Lafayette.  The  General  had  a  strong  affection  for 
him  and  in  1784  furnished  him  with  money  to  take 
a  trip  to  the  West  Indies  for  his  health.  Contrary 
to  expectations,  he  improved,  married  Fanny  Bas- 
sett,  and  for  several  years  resided  at  Mount  Vernon. 
But  the  disease,  consumption,  returned  and,  greatly 
to  his  uncle's  distress,  he  died  in  1792.  Washington 
helped  to  care  for  the  widow  until  she  became  the 
wife  of  Tobias  Lear. 

Two  other  nephews,  Robert  Lewis  and  Howell 
Lewis,  were  in  turn  for  short  intervals  in  charge 
of  affairs,  but  presently  the  estate  was  committed  to 
the  care  of  an  Englishman  named  Anthony  Whit 
ing,  who  was  already  overseer  of  two  of  the  farms. 
Like  his  predecessor  he  was  a  victim  of  consump 
tion  and  died  in  June,  1793.  Washington  showed 
him  great  kindness,  repeatedly  urging  him  not  to 
overexert,  to  make  use  of  wines,  tea,  coffee  and 
other  delicacies  that  had  been  sent  for  the  use  of 
guests.  As  Whiting  was  also  troubled  with  rheuma 
tism,  the  President  dropped  affairs  of  state  long 
enough  to  write  him  that  "Flannel  next  the  skin  [is] 
the  best  cure  for,  &  preventative  of  the  Rheumatism 
I  have  ever  tried."  Yet  after  Whiting's  death  the 


WHITE    SERVANTS  181 

employer  learned  .that  he  had  been  deceived  in  the 
man — that  he  "drank  freely — kept  bad  company  at 
my  house  in  Alexandria — and  was  a  very  debauched 
person." 

William  Pearce,  who  followed  Whiting,  came 
from  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  where  he 
owned  an  estate  called  "Hopewell."  His  salary  was 
a  hundred  guineas  a  year.  A  poor  speller  and  gram 
marian,  he  was  nevertheless  practical  and  one  of  the 
best  of  all  the  managers.  He  resigned  in  1797  on 
account  of  rheumatism,  which  he  thought  would 
prevent  him  from  giving  business  the  attention  it 
deserved.  Washington  parted  from  him  with  much 
regret  and  gave  him  a  "certificate"  in  which  he 
spoke  in  the  most  laudatory  terms  of  his  "honesty, 
sobriety  industry  and  skill"  and  stated  that  his  con 
duct  had  given  "entire  satisfaction."  They  later 
corresponded  occasionally  and  exchanged  farm  and 
family  news  in  the  most  friendly  way. 

The  last  manager,  James  Anderson,  was  described 
by  his  employer  as  "an  honest,  industrious  and  ju 
dicious  Scotchman."  His  salary  was  one  hundred 
forty  pounds  a  year.  Though  born  in  a  country 
where  slaves  were  unknown,  he  proved  adaptable  to 
Virginia  conditions  and  assisted  the  overseers  "in 


182    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

some  chastisements  when  needful."  As  his  em 
ployer  retired  from  the  presidency  soon  after  he 
took  charge  he  had  not  the  responsibility  of  some 
who  had  preceded  him,  for  Washington  was  unwill 
ing  to  be  reduced  to  a  mere  cipher  on  his  own  estate. 
Seeing  the  great  profusion  of  cheap  corn  and  rye, 
Anderson,  who  was  a  good  judge  of  whisky,  en 
gaged  the  General  in  a  distillery,  which  stood 
near  the  grist  mill.  The  returns  for  1798  were 
£344.12.7j4,  with  755%  gallons  still  unsold. 

Washington's  letters  to  his  managers  are  filled 
with  exhortations  and  sapient  advice  about  all  man 
ner  of  things.  He  constantly  urged  them  to  avoid 
familiarities  with  the  blacks  and  preached  the  im 
portance  of  "example,"  for,  "be  it  good  or  bad,"  it 
"will  be  followed  by  all  those  who  look  up  to  you.— 
Keep  every  one  in  their  place,  &  to  their  duty;  re 
laxation  from,  or  neglect  in  small  matters,  lead  to 
like  attempts  in  matters  of  greater  magnitude." 

The  absent  owner  was  constantly  complaining 
that  his  managers  failed  to  inform  him  about  mat 
ters  concerning  which  he  had  inquired.  Hardly  a 
report  reached  him  that  did  not  fail  to  explain  some 
thing  in  which  he  was  interested.  This  was  one 


WHITE    SERVANTS  183 

of  the  many  disadvantages  of  farming  at  long 
range. 

In  1793  Washington  described  his  overseers  to 
Pearce,  who  was  just  taking  charge,  in  great  detail. 
Stuart  is  competent,  sober  and  industrious,  but  talk 
ative  and  conceited.  "If  he  stirs  early  and  works 
late  ...  his  talkativeness  and  vanity  may  be 
humored."  Crow  is  active  and  possessed  of  good 
judgment,  but  overly  fond  of  "visiting  and  receiv 
ing  visits."  McKoy  is  a  "sickly,  slothful  and  stupid 
fellow."  Butler,  the  gardener,  may  mean  well,  but 
"he  has  no  more  authority  over  the  Negroes  he  is 
placed  over  than  an  old  woman  would  have."  Ulti 
mately  he  dismissed  Butler  on  this  ground,  but  as 
the  man  could  find  no  other  job  he  was  forced  to 
give  him  assistance.  The  owner's  opinions  of  Davy, 
the  colored  overseer  at  Muddy  Hole  Farm,  and  of 
Thomas  Green,  the  carpenter,  are  given  elsewhere. 

In  the  same  letter  he  exhorted  Pearce  to  see  what 
time  the  overseers  "turn  out  of  a  morning — for  I 
have  strong  suspicions  that  this,  with  some  of  them, 
is  at  a  late  hour,  the  consequences  of  which  to  the 
Negroes  is  not  difficult  to  foretell. —  All  these  Over 
seers  as  you  will  perceive  by  their  agreements,  which 


184    GEORGE  WASHINGTON— FARMER 

I  here  with  send,  are  on  standing  wages;  and  thi:s 
with  men  who  are  not  actuated  by  the  principles  of 
honor  or  honesty,  and  not  very  regardful  of  their 
characters,  leads  naturally  to  endulgences — as  their 
profits  whatever  may  be  mine,  are  the  same  whethe:* 
they  are  at  a  horse  race  or  on  the  farm." 

From  the  above  it  will  appear  that  he  did  not  be 
lieve  that  the  overseers  were  storing  up  any  large 
treasury  of  good  works.  In  the  Revolution  he  wrote 
that  one  overseer  and  a  confederate,  "I  believe,  di 
vide  the  profits  of  my  Estate  on  the  York  River, 
tolerably  between  them,  for  the  devil  of  anything 
do  I  get."  Later  he  approved  the  course  of  George 
A.  Washington  in  depriving  an  overseer  of  the  priv 
ilege  of  killing  four  shoats,  as  this  gave  him  an  ex 
cuse  when  caught  killing  a  pig  to  say  that  it  was  one 
of  those  to  which  he  was  entitled.  Even  when  hon 
est,  the  overseers  were  likely  to  be  careless.  They 
often  knew  little  about  the  stock  under  their  charge 
and  in  making  their  weekly  reports  would  take  the 
number  from  old  reports  instead  of  actually  making 
the  count,  with  the  result  that  many  animals  could 
die  or  disappear  long  before  those  in  charge  became 
aware  of  it- 
Washington's  carpenters  were  mostly  slaves,  but 


v       '<  /{ e  /'//•  yf  / 'si  /  < '  t  '*  '< •/////' '/  /'/?  f  "f> 

/i  f /!  f    1(  I    ,     //J'f/  ,'ff    ''/S /'/¥*>??•      $~7<t?().          „„ 

X?'.    ^'•gip  •  -  v  y-  ^  ,...,.•),'/'/ .^TTT^T..  .  b*f^,«o~-y/j'*p/.^  ...St..,. 


/•  ///^ 


-., 

y 


^4L 


,  ...,. 


Part  of  a  Manager's  Weekly  Report 


WHITE    SERVANTS  185 

he  usually  hired  a  white  man  to  oversee  and  direct 
them.  In  1768,  for  example,  he  engaged  for  this 
purpose  a  certain  Jonathan  Palmer,  who  was  to  re 
ceive  forty  pounds  a  year,  four  hundred  pounds  of 
meat,  twenty  bushels  of  corn,  a  house  to  live  in,  a 
garden,  and  also  the  right  to  keep  two  cows. 

The  carpenters  were  required  not  only  to  build 
houses,  barns,  sheds  and  other  structures,  but  also 
boats,  and  had  to  hew  out  or  whipsaw  many  of  the 
timbers  and  boards  used. 

The  carpenter  whose  name  we  meet  oftenest  was 
Thomas  Green,  who  married  Sally  Bishop.  I  have 
seen  a  contract  signed  by  Green  in  1786,  by  which 
he  was  to  receive  annually  forty-five  pounds  in  Vir 
ginia  currency,  five  hundredweight  of  pork,  pasture 
for  a  cow,  and  two  hundred  pounds  of  common 
flour.  He  also  had  the  right  to  be  absent  from  the 
plantation  half  a  day  in  every  month.  He  did  not 
use  these  vacations  to  good  advantage,  for  he  was  a 
drunken  incompetent  and  tried  Washington's  pa 
tience  sorely.  Washington  frequently  threatened  to 
dismiss  him  and  as  often  relented  and  Green  finally, 
in  1794,  quit  of  his  own  accord,  though  Washing 
ton  thereafter  had  to  assist  his  family. 

The  employment  of  white  day  labor  at  Mount 


186    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Vernon  was  not  extensive.  In  harvest  time  some 
extra  cradlers  were  employed,  as  this  was  a  kind  of 
work  at  which  the  slaves  were  not  very  skilful.  Pay 
ment  was  at  the  rate  of  about  a  dollar  a  day  or  a 
dollar  for  cutting  four  acres,  which  was  the  amount 
a  skilled  man  could  lay  down  in  a  day.  The  men 
were  also  given  three  meals  a  day  and  a  pint  of 
spirits  each.  They  slept  in  the  barns,  with  straw 
and  a  blanket  for  a  bed.  With  them  worked  the 
overseers,  cutting,  binding  and  setting  up  the 
sheaves  in  stools  or  shocks. 

Laziness  in  his  employees  gave  our  Farmer  a  vast 
deal  of  unhappiness.  It  was  an  enemy  that  he  fought 
longer  and  more  persistently  than  he  fought  the 
British.  In  his  early  career  a  certain  "Young  Ste 
phens,"  son  of  the  miller,  seems  to  have  been  his 
greatest  trial.  "Visited  my  Plantations,"  he  confides 
to  his  diary.  "Severely  reprimanded  young  Stephens 
for  his  Indolence,  and  his  father  for  suffering  it." 
"Visited  my  Quarters  &  ye  Mill  according  to  custom 
found  young  Stephens  absent."  "Visited  my  Plan 
tations  and  found  to  my  great  surprise  Stephens 
constantly  at  work."  "Rid  out  to  my  Plantn.  and  to 
my  Carpenters.  Found  Richard  Stephens  hard  at 
work  with  an  ax — very  extraordinary  this!" 


WHITE    SERVANTS  187 

To  what  extent  the  change  proved  permanent  we 
do  not  know.  But  even  though  the  reformation  was 
absolute,  it  mattered  little,  for  each  year  produces 
a  new  crop  of  lazybones  just  as  it  does  "lambs"  and 
"suckers." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  our  Farmer 
was  impatient,  perhaps  even  a  bit  querulous,  but 
innumerable  incidents  prove  that  he  was  also  gen 
erous  and  just.  Thus  when  paper  currency  depreci 
ated  to  a  low  figure  he,  of  his  own  volition,  wrote  to 
Lund  Washington  that  he  would  not  hold  him  to  his 
contract,  but  would  pay  his  wages  by  a  share  in  the 
crops,  and  this  at  a  time  when  his  own  debtors  were 
discharging  their  indebtedness  in  the  almost  worth 
less  paper. 

If  ever  a  square  man  lived,  Washington  was  that 
man.  He  believed  in  the  Golden  Rule  and  he  prac 
tised  it — not  only  in  church,  but  in  business.  It  was 
not  for  nothing  that  as  a  boy  he  had  written  as  his 
one  hundred  tenth  "Rule  of  Civility":  "Labor  to 
keep  alive  in  your  Breast  that  Little  Spark  of  Celes 
tial  fire  called  Conscience." 

In  looking  through  his  later  letters  I  came  upon 
one,  dated  January  7,  1796,  from  Pearce  stating  that 
Davenport,  a  miller  whom  Washington  had  brought 


188    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

from  Pennsylvania,  was  dead.  He  had  already  re 
ceived  six  hundred  pounds  of  pork  and  more  wages 
than  were  due  him  as  advances  for  the  coming  year. 
What  should  be  done?  asked  the  manager.  "His 
Wife  and  Children  will  be  in  a  most  Distressed  Sit 
uation."  As  I  examined  the  papers  that  followed  I 
said  to  myself:  "I  will  see  if  I  know  what  his  an 
swer  will  be."  I  thought  I  did,  and  so  it  proved. 
Back  from  Philadelphia  came  the  answer : 

"Altho'  she  can  have  no  right  to  the  Meat,  T 
would  have  none  of  it  taken  from  her. — You  may 
also  let  her  have  middlings  from  the  Mill, — and  un 
til  the  house  may  become  indispensably  necessary 
for  the  succeeding  Miller,  let  her  remain  in  it. — As 
she  went  from  these  parts  she  can  have  no  friends 
(by  these  I  mean  relations)  where  she  is.  If  there 
fore  she  wishes  to  return  back  to  his,  or  her  own  re 
lations,  aid  her  in  doing  so." 

Not  always  were  his  problems  so  somber  as  this. 
Consider,  for  example,  the  case  of  William  M.  Rob 
erts,  an  employee  who  feared  that  he  was  about  to 
get  the  sack.  "In  your  absence  to  Richmond,"  writes 
anxious  William,  November  25,  1784,  "My  Wife  & 
I  have  had  a  Most  Unhappy  falling  out  Which  I 
Shall  not  Trouble  you  with  the  Praticlers  No  farther 


WHITE    SERVANTS  189 

than  This.  I  hapened  To  Git  to  Drinking  one 
Night  as  She  thought  Two  'Much.  &  From  one  Cros 
Question  to  a  nother  Matters  weare  Carred  to  the 
Langth  it  has  been.  Which  Mr.  Lund  Washington 
will  Inform  you  For  My  part  I  am  Heartily  Sorry 
in  my  Sole  My  Wife  appares  to  be  the  Same  &  I 
am  of  a  pinion  that  We  Shall  Live  More  Happy 
than  We  have  Don  for  the  fewter." 

In  his  dealings  with  servants  Washington  was 
sometimes  troubled  with  questions  that  worry  us 
when  we  are  trying  to  hire  "Mary"  or  "Bridget." 
Thus  when  Mrs.  Washington's  ill  health  necessi 
tated  his  engaging  in  1797  a  housekeeper  he  made 
the  following  minute  and  anxious  inquiries  of 
Bushrod  Washington  at  Richmond  concerning  a  cer 
tain  Mrs.  Forbes : 

"What  countrywoman  is  she? 

"Whether  Widow  or  Wife?  if  the  latter 

"Where  her  husband  is? 

"What  family  she  has? 

"What  age  she  is? 

"Of  what  temper? 

"Whether  active  and  spirited  in  the  execution  of 
her  business? 

"Whether  sober  and  honest? 


190    GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

"Whether  much  knowledge  in  Cookery,  and  un 
derstands  ordering  and  setting  out  a  Table? 

"What  her  appearance  is  ? 

"With  other  matters  which  may  occur  to  you  to 
ask, — and  necessary  for  me  to  know. 

"Mrs.  Forbes  will  have  a  warm,  decent  and  com 
fortable  room  to  herself,  to  lodge  in,  and  will  eat 
of  the  victuals  of  our  Table,  but  not  set  at  it,  at  any 
time  with  us,  be  her  appearance  what  it  may,  for  if 
this  was  once  admitted ' ,  no  line  satisfactory  to  either 
party,  perhaps,  could  be  drawn  thereafter. — It  might 
be  well  for  me  to  know  however  whether  this  was 
admitted  at  Govr.  Brookes  or  not." 

Considerate  and  just  though  he  was,  his  deliber 
ate  judgment  of  servants  after  a  long  and  varied 
experience  was  that  they  are  "necessary  plagues 
.  .  .  they  baffle  all  calculation  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  any  plan  or  repairs  they  are  engaged  in; 
and  require  more  attention  to  and  looking  after  than 
can  be  well  conceived." 

Perhaps  the  soundest  philosophy  upon  this  trying 
and  much  debated  servant  question  is  that  of  Miles 
Standish,  who  proceeded,  however,  straightway  to 
violate  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 

BLACK  SLAVES 

IT  IS  ONE  of  the  strange  inconsistencies  of  his 
tory  that  one  of  the  foremost  champions  of  lib 
erty  of  all  time  should  himself  have  been  the  abso 
lute  owner  and  master  of  men,  women  and  children. 
Visitors  at  Mount  Vernon  saw  many  faces  there, 
but  only  a  few  were  white  faces,  the  rest  were  those 
of  black  slaves.  On  each  farm  stood  a  village  of 
wooden  huts,  where  turbaned  mammies  crooned 
and  piccaninnies  gamboled  in  the  sunshine.  The 
cooks,  the  house  servants,  the  coachmen,  the  stable 
boys,  almost  all  the  manual  workers  were  slaves. 
Even  the  Mansion  House  grounds,  if  the  master 
was  away,  were  apt  to  be  overrun  with  black  chil 
dren,  for  though  only  the  progeny  of  a  few  house 
servants  were  supposed  to  enter  the  precincts,  the 
others  often  disregarded  the  prohibition,  to  the  de 
struction  of  the  Farmer's  flowers  and  rare  shrubs. 

191 


192    GEORGE  WASHINGTON— FARMER 

From  his  father  Washington  inherited  ten  or  a 
dozen  slaves  and,  as  occasion  required  or  opportu 
nity  offered,  he  added  to  the  number.  By  1760  he 
paid  taxes  on  forty-nine  slaves,  in  1770  on  eighty- 
seven  and  in  1774  on  one  hundred  thirty-five.  Pres 
ently  he  found  himself  overstocked  and  in  1778  ex 
pressed  a  wish  to  barter  for  land  some  "Negroes, 
of  whom  I  every  day  long  more  to  get  clear  of."* 
Still  later  he  declared  that  he  had  more  negroes  than 
could  be  employed  to  advantage  on  his  estate,  but 
was  principled  against  selling  any,  while  hiring  them 

*  In  1754  he  bought  a  "fellow"  for  £40.5,  another  named  Jack 
for  £52.5  and  a  woman  called  Clio  for  £50.  Two  years  later 
he  acquired  two  negro  men  and  a  woman  for  £86,  and  from 
Governor  Dinwiddie  a  woman  and  child  for  £60.  In  1758  he 
got  Gregory  for  £60.9.  Mount  Vernon  brought  him  eighteen 
more.  Mrs.  Washington  was  the  owner  of  a  great  many 
slaves,  which  he  called  the  "dower  Negroes,"  and  with  part  of 
the  money  she  brought  him  he  acquired  yet  others.  The  year 
of  his  marriage  he  bought  Will  for  £50,  another  fellow  for  £60, 
Hannah  and  child  for  £80  and  nine  others  for  £406.  In  1762 
he  acquired  two  of  Fielding  Lewis  for  £115,  seven  of  Lee  Mas- 
sey  for  £300,  also  one-handed  Charles  for  £30.  Two  years 
later  he  bought  two  men  and  a  woman  of  the  estate  of  Francis 
Hobbs  for  £128.10,  the  woman  being  evidently  of  inferior 
quality,  for  she  cost  only  £20.  Another  slave  purchased  that 
year  from  Sarah  Alexander  was  more  valuable,  costing  £76. 
Judy  and  child,  obtained  of  Garvin  Corbin,  cost  £63.  Two 
mulattoes,  Will  and  Frank,  bought  of  Mary  Lee  in  1768,  cost 
£61.15  and  £50,  and  Will  became  famous  as  a  body  servant; 
Adam  and  Frank,  bought  of  the  same  owner,  cost  £38.  He 
bought  five  more  slaves  in  1772.  Some  writers  say  that  this 
was  his  last  purchase,  but  it  is  certain  that  thereafter  he  at 
least  took  a  few  in  payment  of  debts. 


BLACK   SLAVES  193 

out  was  almost  as  bad.  "What  then  is  to  be  done  ? 
Something  or  I  shall  be  ruined." 

In  1786  he  took  a  census  of  his  slaves  on  the 
Mount  Vernon  estate.  On  the  Mansion  House  Farm 
he  had  sixty-seven,  including  Will  or  Billy  Lee,  who 
was  his  "val  de  Chambre,"  two  waiters,  two  cooks, 
three  drivers  and  stablers,  three  seamstresses,  two 
house  maids,  two  washers,  four  spinners,  besides 
smiths,  a  waggoner,  carter,  stock  keeper,  knitters 
and  carpenters.  Two  women  were  "almost  past  serv 
ice,"  one  of  them  being  "old  and  almost  blind."  A 
man,  Schomberg,  was  "past  labour."  Lame  Peter 
had  been  taught  to  knit.  Twenty-six  were  children, 
the  youngest  being  Delia  and  Sally.  At  the  mill  were 
Miller  Ben  and  three  coopers.  On  the  whole  estate 
there  were  two  hundred  sixteen  slaves,  including 
many  dower  negroes. 

If  our  Farmer  took  any  special  pains  to  develop 
the  mental  and  moral  nature  of  "My  People,"  as 
he  usually  called  his  slaves,  I  have  found  no  record 
of  it.  Nor  is  there  any  evidence  that  their  sexual  re 
lations  were  other  than  promiscuous — if  they  so  de 
sired.  Marriage  had  no  legal  basis  among  slaves  and 
children  took  the  status  of  their  mother.  Instances 
occurred  in  which  couples  remained  together  and 


194    GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

had  an  affection  for  their  families,  but  the  reverse 
was  not  uncommon.  This  state  of  affairs  goes  far 
toward  explaining  moral  lapses  among  the  negroes 
of  to-day. 

I  have  found  only  one  or  two  lists  of  the  increase 
of  the  slaves,  one  being  that  transmitted  by  James 
Anderson,  manager,  in  February,  1797,  to  the  effect 
that  "there  are  3  Negro  Children  Born,  &  one  dead 
— at  River  Farm  1 ;  born  at  Mansion  house,  Lina  1 ; 
at  Union  Farm  1  born  &  one  dead — It  was  killed  by 
Worms.  Medical  assistance  was  called — But  the 
mothers  are  very  inattentive  to  their  Young." 

Just  why  the  managers,  when  they  carefully  men 
tioned  the  arrival  of  calves,  colts,  lambs  and  mules, 
did  not  also  transmit  news  of  the  advent  of  the  more 
valuable  two-legged  live  stock,  is  not  apparent.  In 
many  reports,  however,  in  accounting  for  the  time 
of  slaves,  occur  such  entries  as :  "By  Cornelia  in 
child  bed  6  days."  Occasionally  the  fact  and  sex  of 
the  increase  is  mentioned,  but  not  often. 

Washington  was  much  more  likely  to  take  notice 
of  deaths  than  of  increases.  "Dorcas,  daughter  of 
Phillis,  died,  which  makes  4  Negroes  lost  this  win 
ter,"  he  wrote  in  1760.  He  strove  to  safeguard  the 


BLACK    SLAVES  195 

health  of  his  slaves  and  employed  a  physician  by 
the  year  to  attend  to  them,  the  payment,  during  part 
of  the  time  at  least,  being  fifteen  pounds  per  annum. 
In  1760  this  physician  was  a  certain  James  Laurie, 
evidently  not  a  man  of  exemplary  character,  for 
Washington  wrote,  April  9,  1760,  "Doctr.  Laurie 
came  here.  I  may  add  Drunk."  Another  physician 
was  a  Doctor  Brown,  another  Doctor  William  Rum- 
ney,  and  in  later  years  it  was  Washington's  old 
friend  Doctor  Craik.  I  have  noticed  two  instances 
of  Washington's  sending  slaves  considerable  dis 
tances  for  medical  treatment.  One  boy,  Christopher, 
bitten  by  a  dog,  went  to  a  "specialist"  at  Lebanon, 
Pennsylvania,  for  treatment  to  avert  madness,  and 
another,  Tom,  had  an  operation  performed  on  his 
eyes,  probably  for  cataract. 

When  at  home  the  Farmer  personally  helped  to 
care  for  sick  slaves.  He  had  a  special  building 
erected  near  the  Mansion  House  for  use  as  a  hos 
pital.  Once  he  went  to  Winchester  in  the  Shenan- 
doah  region  especially  to  look  after  slaves  ill  with 
smallpox  "and  found  everything  in  the  utmost  con 
fusion,  disorder,  and  backwardness.  Got  Blankets 
and  every  other  requisite  from  Winchester,  and  set- 


196    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

tied  things  on  the  best  footing  I  could."  As  he  had 
had  smallpox  when  at  Barbadoes,  he  had  no  fear  of 
contagion. 

Among  the  entries  in  his  diary  are :  "Visited  my 
Plantations  and  found  two  negroes  sick  .  .  . 
ordered  them  to  be  blooded."  "Found  that  lighten 
ing  had  struck  my  quarters  and  near  10  Negroes  in 
it,  some  very  bad  but  by  letting  blood  recovered." 
"Found  the  new  negro  Cupid  ill  of  a  pleurisy  at 
Dogue  Run  Quarter  and  had  him  brot  home  in  a 
cart  for  better  care  of  him.  .  .  .  Cupid  ex 
tremely  ill  all  this  day  and  night.  When  I  went  to 
bed  I  thought  him  within  a  few  hours  of  breathing 
his  last."  However,  Cupid  recovered. 

In  his  contracts  with  overseers  Washington  stipu 
lated  proper  care  of  the  slaves.  Once  he  complained 
to  his  manager  that  the  generality  of  the  overseers 
seem  to  "view  the  poor  creatures  in  scarcely  any 
other  light  than  they  do  a  draught  horse  or  ox ;  neg 
lecting  them  as  much  when  they  are  unable  to  work ; 
instead  of  comforting  and  nursing  them  when  they 
lye  on  a  sick  bed."  Again  he  wrote : 

"When  I  recommended  care  of  and  attention  to 
my  negros  in  sickness,  it  was  that  the  first  stage  of, 
and  the  whole  progress  through  the  disorders  with 


BLACK    SLAVES  197 

which  they  might  be  seized  (if  more  than  a  slight 
indisposition)  should  be  closely  watched,  and  timely 
applications  and  remedies  be  administered;  espe 
cially  in  the  pleurisies,  and  all  inflammatory  disor 
ders  accompanied  with  pain,  when  a  few  day's  neg 
lect,  or  want  of  bleeding  might  render  the  ailment 
incurable.  In  such  cases  sweeten'd  teas,  broths  and 
(according  to  the  nature  of  the  complaint,  and  the 
doctor's  prescription)  sometimes  a  little  wine,  may 
be  necessary  to  nourish  and  restore  the  patient ;  and 
these  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  allow,  when  it  is 
requisite." 

Yet  again  he  complains  that  the  overseers  "seem 
to  consider  a  Negro  much  in  the  same  light  as  they 
do  the  brute  beasts,  on  the  farms,  and  often  times 
treat  them  as  inhumanly." 

His  slaves  by  no  means  led  lives  of  luxury  and  in 
glorious  ease.  A  friendly  Polish  poet  who  visited 
Mount  Vernon  in  1798  was  shocked  by  the  poor 
quarters  and  rough  food  provided  for  them.  He 
wrote : 

"We  entered  some  negroes'  huts — for  their  habi 
tations  cannot  be  called  houses.  They  are  far  more 
miserable  than  the  poorest  of  the  cottages  of  our 
peasants.  The  husband  and  his  wife  sleep  on  a  mis- 


198    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

erable  bed,  the  children  on  the  floor.  A  very  poor 
chimney,  a  little  kitchen  furniture  amid  this  misery 
— a  tea-kettle  and  cups.  ...  A  small  orchard 
with  vegetables  was  situated  close  to  the  hut.  Five 
or  six  hens,  each  with  ten  or  fifteen  chickens,  walked 
there.  That  is  the  only  pleasure  allowed  to  the  ne 
groes  :  they  are  not  permitted  to  keep  either  ducks 
or  geese  or  pigs." 

Yet  all  the  slaves  he  saw  seemed  gay  and  light- 
hearted  and  on  Sundays  played  at  pitching  the  bar 
with  an  activity  and  zest  that  indicated  that  they 
managed  to  keep  from  being  overworked  and  found 
some  enjoyment  in  life. 

To  our  Farmer's  orderly  and  energetic  soul  his 
shiftless  lazy  blacks  were  a  constant  trial.  In  his 
diary  for  February,  1760,  he  records  that  four  of 
his  carpenters  had  only  hewed  about  one  hundred 
twenty  feet  of  timber  in  a  day,  so  he  tried  the  ex 
periment  of  sitting  down  and  watching  them.  They 
at  once  fell  to  with  such  energy  and  worked  so  rap 
idly  that  he  concluded  that  each  one  ought  to  hew- 
about  one  hundred  twenty-five  feet  per  day  and 
more  when  the  days  were  longer. 

A  later  set  of  carpenters  seem  to  have  been  equally 


BLACK    SLAVES  199 

trifling,  for  of  them  he  said  in  1795:  "There  is 
not  to  be  found  so  idle  a  set  of  Rascals. — In  short,  it 
appears  to  me,  that  to  make  even  a  chicken  coop, 
would  employ  all  of  them  a  week." 

"It  is  observed  by  the  Weekly  Report/'  he  wrote 
when  President,  "that  the  Sowers  make  only  Six 
Shirts  a  Week,  and  the  last  week  Caroline  (without 
being  sick)  made  only  five; — Mrs.  Washington  says 
their  usual  task  was  to  make  nine  with  Shoulder 
straps,  &  good  sewing: — tell  them  therefore  from 
me,  that  what  has  been  done  shall  be  done  by  fair  or 
foul  means;  &  they  had  better  make  a  choice  of  the 
first,  for  their  own  reputation,  &  for  the  sake  of 
peace  and  quietness  otherwise  they  will  be  sent  to 
the  several  Plantations,  &  be  placed  at  common  la 
bor  under  the  Overseers  thereat.  Their  work  ought 
to  be  well  examined,  or  it  will  be  most  shamefully 
executed,  whether  little  or  much  of  it  is  done — and 
it  is  said,  the  same  attention  ought  to  be  given  to 
Peter  (&  I  suppose  to  Sarah  likewise)  or  the  Stock 
ings  will  be  knit  too  small  for  those  for  whom  they 
are  intended;  such  being  the  idleness,  &  deceit  of 
those  people." 

"What  kind  of  sickness  is  Betty  Davis's?"  he  de- 


200    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

mands  on  another  occasion.  "If  pretended  ailments, 
without  apparent  causes,  or  visible  effects,  will 
screen  her  from  work,  I  shall  get  no  work  at  all 
from  her; — for  a  more  lazy,  deceitful  and  impudent 
huzzy  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  United  States  than 
she  is." 

"I  observe  what  you  say  of  Betty  Davis  &ct..s> 
he  wrote  a  little  later,  "but  I  never  found  so  much 
difficulty  as  you  seem  to  apprehend  in  distinguish 
ing  between  real  and  feigned  sickness ; — or  when  a 
person  is  much  afflicted  with  pain. — Nobody  can  be 
very  sick  without  having  a  fever,  nor  will  a  fever 
or  any  other  disorder  continue  long  upon  any  one 
without  reducing  them. — Pain  also,  if  it  be  such  as 
to  yield  entirely  to  its  force,  week  after  week,  will 
appear  by  its  effects;  but  my  people  (many  of  them) 
will  lay  up  a  month,  at  the  end  of  which  no  visible 
change  in  their  countenance,  nor  the  loss  of  an  oz  of 
flesh,  is  discoverable;  and  their  allowance  of  provi 
sion  is  going  on  as  if  nothing  ailed  them." 

He  not  only  deemed  his  negroes  lazy,  but  he  had 
also  a  low  opinion  of  their  honesty.  Alexandria  was 
full  of  low  shopkeepers  who  would  buy  stolen  goods 
from  either  blacks  or  whites,  and  Washington  de 
clared  that  not  more  than  two  or  three  of  his  slaves 


Spinning  House— Last  Building  to  the  Right 


The   Butler's    House   and   Magnolia    Set   out  by   Washington 
the  Year  of  his  Death 


BLACK    SLAVES  201 

would  refrain  from  filching  anything  upon  which 
they  could  lay  their  hands. 

He  found  that  he  dared  not  leave  his  wine  un 
locked,  because  the  servants  would  steal  two  glasses 
to  every  one  consumed  by  visitors-  and  then  allege 
that  the  visitors  had  drunk  it  all. 

He  even  suspected  the  slaves  of  taking  a  toll  from 
the  clover  and  timothy  seed  given  them  to  sow  and 
adopted  the  practice  of  having  the  seed  mixed  with 
sand,  as  that  rendered  it  unsalable  and  also  had  the 
advantage  of  getting  the  seed  sown  more  evenly. 

Corn  houses  and  meat  houses  had  to  be  kept 
locked,  apples  picked  early,  and  sheep  and  pigs 
watched -care  fully  or  the  slaves  took  full  advantage 
of  the  opportunity.  Nor  can  we  at  this  distant  day 
blame  them  very  much  or  wax  so  indignant  as  did 
their  master  over  their  thieveries.  They  were  held 
to  involuntary  servitude  and  if  now  and  then  they 
got  the  better  of  their  owner  and  managed  to  enjoy 
a  few  stolen  luxuries  they  merely  did  a  little  toward 
evening  the  score.  But  it  was  poor  training  for 
future  freedom. 

The  black  picture  which  Washington  draws  of 
slavery — from  the  master's  standpoint — is  exceed 
ingly  interesting  and  significant.  The  character  he 


202    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

gives  the  slaves  is  commended  to  the  attention  of 
those  persons  who  continually  bemoan  the  fact  that 
freedom  and  education  have  ruined  the  negroes. 

One  of  the  famous  "Rules  of  Civility,"  which  the 
boy  Washington  so  carefully  copied,  set  forth  that 
persons  of  high  degree  ought  to  treat  their  inferiors 
"with  affibility  &  Courtesie,  without  Arrogancy." 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  when  he  came  to 
manhood  he  was  reasonably  considerate  of  his 
slaves,  and  yet  he  was  a  Master  and  ruled  them  in 
martinet  fashion.  His  advice  to  a  manager  was  to 
keep  the  blacks  at  a  proper  distance,  "for  they  will 
grow  upon  familiarity  in  proportion  as  you  will  sink 
in  authority."  The  English  farmer  Parkinson  re 
cords  that  the  first  time  he  walked  with  General 
Washington  among  his  negroes  he  was  amazed  at 
the  rough  manner  in  which  he  spoke  to  them.  This 
does  not  mean  that  Washington  cursed  his  negroes 
as  the  mate  of  a  Mississippi  River  boat  does  his 
roustabouts,  but  I  suspect  that  those  who  have  heard 
such  a  mate  can  form  an  idea  of  the  tone  employed 
by  our  Farmer  that  so  shocked  Parkinson.  Military 
ofBcers  still  employ  it  toward  their  men. 

Corporal  punishment  was  resorted  to  on  occasion, 
but  not  to  extremes.  The  Master  writes  regarding 


BLACK    SLAVES  203 

a  runaway :  "Let  Abram  get  his  deserts  when  taken, 
by  way  of  example ;  but  do  not  trust  to  Crow  to  give 
it  to  him ; — for  I  have  reason  to  believe  he  is  swayed 
more  by  passion  than  by  judgment  in  all  his  correc 
tions."  Tradition  says  that  on  one  occasion  he  found 
an  overseer  brutally  beating  one  of  the  blacks  and, 
indignant  at  the  sight,  sprang  from  his  horse  and, 
whip  in  hand,  strode  up  to  the  overseer,  who  was  so 
affrighted  that  he  backed  away  crying  loudly :  "Re 
member  your  character,  General,  remember  your 
character!"  The  General  paused,  reprimanded  the 
overseer  for  cruelty  and  rode  off. 

Among  his  slaves  were  some  that  were  too  unruly 
to  be  managed  by  ordinary  means.  In  the  early  sev 
enties  he  had  such  a  one  on  a  plantation  in  York 
County,  Will  Shag  by  name,  who  was  a  persistent 
runaway,  and  who  whipped  the  overseer  and  was 
obstreperous  generally.  Another  slave  committed  so 
serious  an  offense  that  he  was  tried  under  state  law 
and  was  executed.  When  a  bondman  became  partic 
ularly  fractious  he  was  threatened  with  being  sent  to 
the  West  Indies,  a  place  held  in  as  much  dread  as 
was  "down  the  river"  in  later  years.  In  1766  Wash 
ington  sent  such  a  fellow  off  and  to  the  captain  of 
the  ship  that  carried  the  slave  away  he  wrote : 


204    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

"With  this  letter  comes  a  negro  (Tom)  which  I 
beg  the  favor  of  you  to  sell  in  any  of  the  islands 
you  may  go  to,  for  whatever  he  will  fetch,  and 
bring  me  in  return  for  him 

"One  hhd  of  best  molasses 

"One  ditto  of  best  rum 

"One  barrel  of  lymes,  if  good  and  cheap 

"One  pot  of  tamarinds,  containing  about  10  Ibs. 

"Two  small  ditto  of  mixed  sweetmeats,  about  5 
Ibs.  each.  And  the  residue,  much  or  little,  in  good 
old  spirits.  That  this  fellow  is  both  a  rogue  and  a 
runaway  (tho  he  was  by  no  means  remarkable  for 
the  former,  and  never  practiced  the  latter  till  of 
late)  I  shall  not  pretend  to  deny.  But  that  he  is  ex 
ceedingly  healthy,  strong,  and  good  at  the  hoe,  the 
whole  neighborhood  can  testify,  and  particularly 
Mr.  Johnson  and  his  son,  who  have  both  had  him 
under  them  as  foreman  of  the  gang;  which  gives  me 
reason  to  hope  that  he  may  with  your  good  manage 
ment  sell  well,  if  kept  clean  and  trim'd  up  a  little 
when  offered  for  sale." 

Another  "misbehaving  fellow"  named  Waggoner 
Jack  was  sent  off  in  1791  and  was  sold  for  "one  pipe 
and  Quarter  Cask"  of  wine.  Somewhat  later  (1793) 
Matilda's  Ben  became  addicted  to  evil  courses  and 


BLACK   SLAVES  205 

among  other  things  committed  an  assault  and  bat 
tery  on  Sambo,  for  which  he  received  corporal  pun 
ishment  duly  approved  by  our  Farmer,  whose  ear 
nest  desire  it  was  "that  quarrels  be  stopped."  Evi 
dently  the  remedy  was  insufficient,  for  not  long  after 
the  absent  owner  wrote: 

•  "I  am  very  sorry  that  so  likely  a  fellow  as  Matil 
da's  Ben  should  addict  himself  to  such  courses  as  he 
is  pursuing.  If  he  should  be  guilty  of  any  atrocious 
crime  that  would  affect  his  life,  he  might  be  given 
up  to  the  civil  authority  for  trial;  but  for  such  of 
fenses  as  most  of  his  color  are  guilty  of,  you  had 
better  try  further  correction,  accompanied  by  ad 
monition  and  advice.  The  two  latter  sometimes  suc 
ceed  where  the  first  has  failed.  He,  his  father  and 
mother  (who  I  dare  say  are  his  receivers)  may  be 
told  in  explicit  language,  that  if  a  stop  is  not  put  to 
his  rogueries  and  other  villainies,  by  fair  means  and 
shortly,  that  I  will  ship  him  off  (as  I  did  Waggoner 
Jack)  for  the  West  Indies,  where  he  will  have  no 
opportunity  of  playing  such  pranks  as  he  is  at  pres 
ent  engaged  in." 

A  few  of  the  negroes  occupied  positions  of  some 
trust  and  responsibility.  One  named  Davy  was  for 
many  years  manager  of  Muddy  Hole  Farm,  and 


206    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Washington  thought  that  he  carried  on  his  work  as 
well  as  did  the  white  overseers  and  more  quietly 
than  some,  though  rather  negligent  of  live  stock. 
Each  year  at  killing  time  he  was  allowed  two  or 
three  hundredweight  of  pork  as  well  as  other  privi 
leges  not  accorded  to  the  ordinary  slave.  Still  his 
master  did  not  entirely  trust  him,  for  in  1795  we 
find  that  Washington  suspected  Davy  of  having 
stolen  some  lambs  that  had  been  reported  as  "lost." 
The  most  famous  of  the  Mount  Vernon  negroes 
was  William  Lee,  better  known  as  Billy,  whose  pur 
chase  from  Mary  Lee  has  already  been  noticed. 
Billy  was  Washington's  valet  and  huntsman  and 
served  with  him  throughout  the  Revolution  as  a 
body  servant,  rode  with  him  at  reviews  and  was 
painted  by  Savage  in  the  well-known  group  of  the 
President  and  his  family.  Naturally  Billy  put  on 
airs  and  presumed  a  good  deal  upon  his  position.  On 
one  occasion  at  Monmouth  the  General  and  his  staff 
were  reconnoitering  the  British,  ancl  Billy  and  fel 
low  valets  gathered  on  an  adjoining  hill  beneath  a 
sycamore  tree  whence  Billy,  telescope  in  hand,  sur 
veyed  the  enemy  with  much  importance  and  inter 
est.  Washington,  with  a  smile,  called  the  attention 
of  his  aides  to  the  spectacle.  About  the  same  time 


BLACK    SLAVES  207 

the  British,  noticing  the  group  of  horsemen  and  un 
able  to  distinguish  the  color  of  the  riders,  paid  their 
respects  to  Billy  and  his  followers  in  the  shape  of  a 
solid  shot,  which  went  crashing  through  the  top  of 
the  tree,  whereupon  there  was  a  rapid  recession  of 
coat  tails  toward  the  rear. 

Billy  was  a  good  and  faithful  servant  and  his 
master  appreciated  the  fact.  In  1784  we  find  Wash 
ington  writing  to  his  Philadelphia  agent:  "The 
mullatto  fellow,  William,  who  has  been  with  me  all 
the  war,  is  attached  (married  he  says)  to  one  of  his 
own  color,  a  free  woman,  who  during  the  war,  was 
also  of  my  family.  She  has  been  in  an  infirm  con 
dition  for  some  time,  and  I  had  conceived  that  the 
connexion  between  them  had  ceased ;  but  I  am  mis 
taken  it  seems;  they  are  both  applying  to  get  her 
here,  and  tho'  I  never  wished  to  see  her  more,  I  can 
not  refuse  his  request  (if  it  can  be  complied  with  on 
reasonable  terms)  as  he  has  served  me  faithfully 
for  many  years.  After  premising  this  much,  I  have- 
to  beg  the  favor  of  you  to  procure  her  a  passage  to 
Alexandria." 

Next  year  while  Billy  and  his  master  were  en 
gaged  in  surveying  a  piece  of  ground  he  fell  and 
broke  his  knee  pan,  with  the  result  that  he  was  crip- 


208    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

pled  ever  after.  When  Washington  started  to  New 
York  in  1789  to  be  inaugurated  Billy  insisted  upon 
accompanying  him,  but  gave  out  on  the  way  and 
was  left  at  Philadelphia.  A  little  later,  by  the  Presi 
dent's  direction,  Lear  wrote  to  return  Billy  to  Mount 
Vernon,  "for  he  cannot  be  of  any  service  here,  and 
perhaps  will  require  a  person  to  attend  upon  him 
constantly  .  .  .  but  if  he  is  still  anxious  to 
come  on  here  the  President  would  gratify  him, 
altho'  he  will  be  troublesome — He  has  been  an  old 
and  faithful  Servant,  this  is  enough  for  the  Presi 
dent  to  gratify  him  in  every  reasonable  wish." 

When  Billy  was  at  Mount  Vernon  he  worked  as 
a  shoemaker.  He  kept  careful  note  of  visitors  to 
the  place  and  if  one  arrived  who  had  served  in  the 
Revolution  he  invariably  received  a  summons  to 
visit  the  old  negro  and  as  invariably  complied.  Then 
would  ensue  a  talk  of  war  experiences  which  both 
would  enjoy,  for  between  those  who  had  experi 
enced  the  cold  at  Valley  Forge  and  the  warmth  of 
Monmouth  there  were  ties  that  reached  beyond  the 
narrow  confines  of  caste  and  color.  And  upon  de 
parture  the  visitor  would  leave  a  coin  in  Billy's  not 
unwilling  palm. 

As  later  noted  in  detail,  Washington  made  special 


BLACK    SLAVES  209 

provision  for  Billy  in  his  will,  and  for  years  the  old 
negro  lived  upon  his  annuity.  He  was  much  addicted 
to  drink  and  now  and  then,  alas,  had  attacks  in 
which  he  saw  things  that  were  not.  On  such  occa 
sions  it  was  customary  to  send  for  another  mulatto 
named  West  ford,  who  would  relieve  him  by  letting 
a  little  blood.  There  came  a  day  when  West  ford  ar 
rived  and  proceeded  to  perform  his  customary  office, 
but  the  blood  refused  to  flow.  Billy  was  dead. 

Washington's  kindness  to  Billy  was  more  or  less 
paralleled  by  his  treatment  of  other  servants.  Even 
when  President  he  would  write  letters  for  his  slaves 
to  their  wives  and  "Tel  Bosos"  and  would  inclose 
them  with  his  own  letters  to  Mount  Vernon.  He  ap 
preciated  the  fact  that  slaves  were  capable  of  human 
feelings  like  other  men  and  in  1787,  when  trying  to 
purchase  a  mason,  he  instructed  his  agent  not  to  buy 
if  by  so  doing  he  would  "hurt  the  man's  feelings" 
by  breaking  family  ties.  Even  when  dying,  noting 
black  Cristopher  by  his  bed,  he  directed  him  to  sit 
down  and  rest.  It  was  a  little  thing,  but  kindness  is 
largely  made  up  of  little  things. 

The  course  taken  by  him  in  training  a  personal 
servant  is  indicated  by  some  passages  from  his  cor 
respondence.  Writing  from  the  Capital  to  Pearce, 


210    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

December,  1795,  regarding  a  young  negro,  Wash 
ington  says : 

"If  Cyrus  continues  to  give  evidence  of  such  qual 
ities  as  would  fit  him  for  a  waiting  man,  encourage 
him  to  persevere  in  them;  and  if  they  should  appear 
to  be  sincere  and  permanent,  I  will  receive  him  in 
that  character  when  I  retire  from  public  life  if  not 
sooner. —  To  be  sober,  attentive  to  his  duty,  honest, 
obliging  and  cleanly,  are  the  qualifications  necessary 
to  fit  him  for  my  purposes. —  If  he  possess  these, 
or  can  acquire  them — he  might  become  useful  to  me, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  would  exalt,  and  benefit 
himself." 

"I  would  have  you  again  stir  up  the  pride  of  Cy 
rus,"  he  wrote  the  next  May,  "that  he  may  be 
the  fitter  for  my  purposes  against  I  come  home; 
sometime  before  which  (that  is  as  soon  as  I  shall  be 
able  to  fix  on  time)  I  will  direct  him  to  be  taken  into 
the  house,  and  clothes  to  be  made  for  him. — In  the 
meanwhile,  get  him  a  strong  horn  comb  and  direct 
him  to  keep  his  head  well  combed,  that  the  hair,  or 
wool  may  grow  long." 

Once  when  President  word  reached  his  ears  that 
he  was  being  criticized  for  not  furnishing  his  slaves 
with  sufficient  food.  He  hurriedly  directed  that  the 
amount  should  be  increased  and  added :  "I  will  not 


BLACK    SLAVES  211 

have  my  feelings  hurt  with  complaints  of  this  sort, 
nor  lye  under  the  imputation  of  starving  my  ne- 
gros,  and  thereby  driving  them  to  the  necessity  of 
thieving  to  supply  the  deficiency.  To  prevent  waste 
or  embezzlement  is  the  only  inducement  to  allow 
ancing  them  at  all — for  if,  instead  of  a  peck  they 
could  eat  a  bushel  of  meal  a  week  fairly,  and  re 
quired  it,  I  would  not  withold  or  begrudge  it  them." 
There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Washington 
was  respected  and  even  beloved  by  many  of  his 
"People."  Colonel  Humphreys,  who  was  long  at 
Mount  Vernon  arranging  the  General's  papers, 
wrote  descriptive  of  the  return  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution : 

"When  that  foul  stain  of  manhood,  slavery,  flow'd, 
Through  Afric's  sons  transmitted  in  the  blood; 
Hereditary  slaves  his  kindness  shar'd, 
For  manumission  by  degrees  prepar'd : 
Return' d  from  war,  I  saw  them  round  him  press 
And  all  their  speechless  glee  by  artless  signs  ex 
press." 

On  the  whole  we  must  conclude  that  the  lot  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  slaves  was  a  reasonably  happy  one. 
The  regulations  to  which  they  had  to  conform  were 


212    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

rigorous.  Their  Master  strove  to  keep  them  at  work 
and  to  prevent  them  from  "night  walking,"  that  is 
running  about  at  night  visiting.  Their  work  was 
rough,  and  even  the  women  were  expected  to  labor 
in  the  fields  plowing,  grubbing  and  hauling  manure 
as  if  they  were  men.  But  they  had  rations  of  corn 
meal,  salt  pork  and  salt  fish,  whisky  and  rum  at 
Christmas,  chickens  and  vegetables  raised  by  them 
selves  and  now  and  then  a  toothsome  pig  sequestered 
from  the  Master's  herd.  When  the  annual  races  were 
held  at  Alexandria  they  were  permitted  to  go  out 
into  the  world  and  gaze  and  gabble  to  their  heart's 
content.  And,  not  least  of  all,  an  inscrutable  Provi 
dence  had  vouchsafed  to  Ham  one  great  compensa 
tion  that  whatever  his  fortune  or  station  he  should 
usually  be  cheerful.  The  negro  has  not  that  "sad 
lucidity  of  mind"  that  curses  his  white  cousin  and 
leads  to  general  mental  wretchedness  and  suicide. 

Some  of  the  Mount  Vernon  slaves  were  of  course 
more  favored  than  were  others.  The  domestic  and 
personal  servants  lived  lives  of  culture  and  inglori 
ous  ease  compared  with  those  of  the  field  hands. 
They  formed  the  aristocracy  of  colored  Mount  Ver 
non  society  and  gave  themselves  airs  accordingly. 

Nominally  our  Farmer's  slaves  were  probably  all 


BLACK    SLAVES  213 

Christians,  though  I  have  found  no  mention  in  his 
papers  of  their  spiritual  state.  But  tradition  says 
that  some  of  them  at  Dogue  Run  at  least  were  Vou- 
doo  or  "conjuring"  negroes. 

Washington  owned  slaves  and  lived  his  life  un 
der  the  institution  of  slavery,  but  he  loved  it  not.  He 
was  too  honest  and  keen-minded  not  to  realize  that 
the  institution  did  not  square  with  the  principles  of 
human  liberty  for  which  he  had  fought,  and  yet  the 
problem  of  slavery  was  so  vast  and  complicated  that 
he  was  puzzled  how  to  deal  with  it.  But  as  early  as 
1786  he  wrote  to  John  F.  Mercer,  of  Virginia:  "I 
never  mean,  unless  some  particular  circumstances 
should  compel  me  to  it,  to  possess  another  slave  by 
purchase,  it  being  among  my  first  wishes  to  see  some 
plan  adopted  by  which  slavery  in  this  country  may 
be  abolished  by  law."  The  running  away  of  his 
colored  cook  a  decade  later  subjected  him  to  such 
trials  that  he  wrote  that  he  would  probably  have  to 
break  his  resolution.  He  did,  in  fact,  carry  on  con 
siderable  correspondence  to  that  end  and  seems  to 
have  taken  one  man  on  trial,  but  I  have  found  no 
evidence  that  he  discovered  a  negro  that  suited  him. 

In  1794,  in  explaining  to  Tobias  Lear  his  reasons 
for  desiring  to  sell  some  of  his  western  lands,  he 


214    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

said:  " Besides  these  I  have  another  motive  which 
makes  me  earnestly  wish  for  these  things — it  is  in 
deed  more  powerful  than  all  the  rest — namely  to 
liberate  a  certain  species  of  property  which  I  possess 
very  repugnantly  to  my  own  feelings ;  but  which  im 
perious  necessity  compels,  and  until  I  can  substitute 
some  other  expedient,  by  which  expenses,  not  in  my 
power  to  avoid  (however  well  I  may  be  disposed  to 
do  it)  can  be  defrayed." 

Later  in  the  same  year  he  wrote  to  General  Alex 
ander  Spotswood:  "With  respect  to  the  other  spe 
cies  of  property,  concerning  which  you  ask  my  opin 
ion,  I  shall  frankly  declare  to  you  that  I  do  not  like 
even  to  think,  much  less  to  talk  of  it. — However,  as 
you  have  put  the  question,  I  shall,  in  a  few  wrords, 
give  my  ideas  about  it. —  Were  it  not  then,  that  I 
am  principled  agt.  selling  negroes,  as  you  wrould 
cattle  at  a  market,  I  would  not  in  twelve  months 
from  this  date,  be  possessed  of  one  as  a  slave. —  I 
shall  be  happily  mistaken,  if  they  are  not  found  to 
be  a  very  troublesome  species  of  property  ere  many 
years  pass  over  our  heads." 

"I  wish  from  my  soul  that  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  could  see  the  policy  of  a  gradual  abolition  of 


BLACK    SLAVES  215 

slavery,"  he  wrote  to  Lawrence  Lewis  three  years 
later.  "It  might  prevent  much  future  mischief." 

His  ideas  on  the  subject  were  in  accord  with  those 
of  many  other  great  Southerners  of  his  day  such 
as  Madison  and  Jefferson.  These  men  realized  the 
inconsistency  of  slavery  in  a  republic  dedicated  to 
the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and 
vaguely  they  foresaw  the  irrepressible  conflict  that 
was  to  divide  their  country  and  was  to  be  fought 
out  on  a  hundred  bloody  battle-fields.  They  did  not 
attempt  to  defend  slavery  as  other  than  a  temporary 
institution  to  be  eliminated  whenever  means  and 
methods  could  be  found  to  do  it.  Not  until  the  cot 
ton  gin  had  made  slavery  more  profitable  and  radical 
abolitionism  arose  in  the  North  did  Southerners  of 
prominence  begin  to  champion  slavery  as  praise 
worthy  and  permanent. 

And  yet,  though  Washington  in  later  life  deplored 
slavery,  he  was  human  and  illogical  enough  to  dis 
like  losing  his  negroes  and  pursued  runaways  with 
energy.  In  October,  1760,  he  spent  seven  shillings 
in  advertising  for  an  absconder,  and  the  next  year 
paid  a  minister  named  Green  four  pounds  for  taking 
up  a  runaway.  In  1766  he  advertised  rewards  for 


216    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  capture  of  "Negro  Tom,"  evidently  the  man  he 
later  sold  in  the  West  Indies.  The  return  of  Henry 
in  1771  cost  him  £1.16.  Several  slaves  were  carried 
away  by  the  British  during  the  Revolution  and  seem 
never  to  have  been  recovered,  though  the  treaty  of 
peace  provided  for  the  return  of  such  slaves,  and 
Washington  made  inquiries  concerning  them.  In 
1796,  apropos  of  a  girl  who  had  absconded  to  New 
England,  he  excused  his  desire  to  recapture  her  on 
the  ground  that  as  long  as  slavery  was  in  existence 
it  was  hardly  fair  to  allow  some  to  escape  and  to 
hold  others. 

A  rather  peculiar  situation  arose  in  1791  with  re 
gard  to  some  of  his  "People."  His  attorney  general, 
Randolph,  had  taken  some  slaves  to  Philadelphia, 
and  the  blacks  took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  under 
Pennsylvania  law  they  could  not  be  forced  to  leave 
the  state  against  their  will.  Fearing  that  some  of 
his  own  servants  might  do  likewise,  Washington 
directed  Lear  to  get  the  slaves  back  to  Mount  Ver- 
non  and  to  accomplish  it  "under  pretext  that  may 
'deceive  both  them  and  the  Public,"  which  goes  to 
show  that  even  George  Washington  had  some  of  the 
guile  of  the  serpent. 

During  this  period  he  was  loath  to  bring  the  fact 


BLACK    SLAVES  217 

that  he  was  a  slaveholder  too  prominently  before  the 
public,  for  he  realized  the  prejudice  already  existing 
against  the  institution  in  the  North.  When  one  of 
his  men  absconded  in  1795  he  gave  instructions  not 
to  let  his  name  appear  in  any  advertisement  of  the 
runaway,  at  least  not  north  of  Virginia. 

His  final  judgment  on  slavery  is  expressed  in  his 
will.  "Upon  the  decease  of  my  wife  it  is  my  will 
and  desire,"  he  wrote,  "that  all  the  slaves  which  I 
hold  in  my  own  right  shall  receive  their  freedom — 
To  emancipate  them  during  her  life,  would  tho  ear 
nestly  wished  by  me,  be  attended  with  such  insuper 
able  difficulties,  on  account  of  their  intermixture  by 
marriages  with  the  Dower  negroes  as  to  excite  the 
most  painful  sensations, — if  not  disagreeable  conse 
quences  from  the  latter,  while  both  descriptions  are 
in  the  occupancy  of  the  same  proprietor,  it  not  being 
in  my  power  under  the  tenure  by  which  the  dower 
Negroes  are  held  to  manumit  them." 

The  number  of  his  own  slaves  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  one  hundred  twenty-four.  Of  dower  ne 
groes  there  were  one  hundred  fifty-three,  and  be 
sides  he  had  forty  leased  from  a  Mrs.  French. 

He  expressly  forbade  the  sale  of  any  slave  or  his 
transportation  out  of  Virginia,  and  made  provision 


218    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

for  the  care  of  the  aged,  the  young  and  the  infirm. 
He  gave  immediate  freedom  to  his  mulatto  man, 
calling  himself  William  Lee,  or  if  he  should  prefer 
it,  being  physically  incapacitated,  he  might  remain  in 
slavery.  In  either  case  he  was  to  have  an  annuity 
of  thirty  dollars  and  the  "victuals  and  cloaths  he  has 
been  accustomed  to  receive.'*  "This  I  give  him  as  a 
testimony  of  my  sense  of  his  attachment  to  me  and 
for  his  faithful  services  during  the  revolutionary 
War." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mrs.  Washington  preferred 
to  free  her  own  and  the  General's  negroes  as  soon  as 
possible  and  it  was  accordingly  done  before  her 
death,  which  occurred  in  1802. 

One  of  the  servants  thus  freed,  by  name  Gary, 
lived  to  the  alleged  age  of  one  hundred  fourteen 
years  and  finally  died  in  Washington  City.  He  was 
a  personage  of  considerable  importance  among  the 
colored  population  of  the  Capital,  and  on  Fourth  of 
July  and  other  parades  would  always  appear  in  an 
old  military  coat,  cocked  hat  and  huge  cockade  pre 
sented  by  his  Master.  His  funeral  was  largely  at 
tended  even  by  white  persons. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  FARMER'S  WIFE 

MARTHA  DANDRIDGE'S  first  husband 
was  a  man  much  older  than  herself  and  her 
second  was  almost  a  year  younger.  Before  she  em 
barked  upon  her  second  matrimonial  venture  she 
had  been  the  mother  of  four  children,  and  having 
lost  two  of  these,  her  husband,  her  father  and 
mother,  she  had  known,  though  only  twenty-seven, 
most  of  the  vital  experiences  that  life  can  give.  Per 
haps  it  was  well,  for  thereby  she  was  better  fitted  to 
be  the  mate  of  a  man  sober  and  sedate  in  disposition 
and  created  by  Nature  to  bear  heavy  burdens  of  re 
sponsibility. 

In  view  of  the  important  places  her  husband  filled, 
It  is  astonishing  how  little  we  really  know  of  her. 
Washington  occasionally  refers  to  her  in  his  letters 
and  diaries,  but  usually  in  an  impersonal  way  that 
gives  us  little  insight  into  her  character  or  activities. 
She  purposely  destroyed  almost  all  the  correspond- 

219 


220    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

ence  that  passed  between  her  and  her  husband  and 
very  little  else  remains  that  she  wrote.  From  the 
few  letters  that  do  survive  it  is  apparent  that  her 
education  was  slender,  though  no  more  so  than  that 
of  most  women  of  her  day  even  in  the  upper  class. 
She  had  a  fondness  for  phonetic  spelling,  and  her 
verbs  and  subjects  often  indulged  in  family  wran 
gles.  She  seems  to  have  been  conscious  of  her  de 
ficiencies  in  this  direction  or  at  least  to  have  disliked 
writing,  for  not  infrequently  the  General  acted  as 
her  amanuensis.  But  she  was  well  trained  in  social 
and  domestic  accomplishments,  could  dance  and  play 
on  the  spinet — in  short,  was  brought  up  a  "gentle 
woman."  That  she  must  in  youth  have  possessed 
charm  of  person  and  manners  is  indicated  by  her 
subjugation  of  Daniel  Parke  Custis,  a  man  of  the 
world  and  of  much  greater  fortune  than  herself,  and 
by  her  later  conquest  of  Washington,  for,  though  it 
be  admitted  in  the  latter  case  that  George  may  not 
have  objected  to  her  fortune,  we  can  not  escape  the 
conclusion  that  he  truly  loved  her. 

In  fact,  the  match  seems  to  have  been  ideally  suc 
cessful  in  every  respect  except  one.  The  contracting 
parties  remained  reasonably  devoted  to  each  other 
until  the  end  and  though  tradition  says  that  Martha 


THE   FARMER'S    WIFE  221 

would  sometimes  read  George  a  curtain  lecture  after 
they  had  retired  from  company,  there  remains  no 
record  of  any  serious  disagreement.  Though  not 
brilliant  nor  possessed  of  a  profound  mind,  she  was 
a  woman  of  much  good  sense  with  an  understanding 
heart.  Nor  did  she  lack  firmness  or  public  spirit. 
Edmund  Pendleton  relates  that  when  on  his  way  to 
the  Continental  Congress  in  1774  he  stopped  at 
Mount  Vernon,  "She  talked  like  a  Spartan  mother 
to  her  son  on  going  to  battle.  'I  hope  you  will  all 
stand  firm — I  know  George  will,'  she  said." 

The  poorest  artisan  in  Boston  with  nothing  to  lose 
but  his  life  did  not  embrace  the  patriot  cause  with 
any  greater  eagerness  than  did  these  Washingtons 
with  their  broad  acres  and  thousands  of  pounds  on 
bond. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Martha 
Washington  was  helpful  to  her  husband  in  many 
ways.  At  home  she  was  a  good  housewife  and  when 
Washington  was  in  public  life  she  played  her  part 
well.  No  brilliant  sallies  of  wit  spoken  by  her  on 
any  occasion  have  come  down  to  us,  but  we  know 
that  at  Valley  Forge  she  worked  day  and  night  knit 
ting  socks,  patching  garments  and  making  shirts  for 
the  loyal  band  of  winter  patriots  who  stood  by  their 


222    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

leader  and  their  cause  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the 
Revolution. 

A  Morristown  lady  who  paid  her  a  call  in  the 
little  stone  house  that  still  stands  beside  the  Schuyl- 
kill  relates  that  "as  she  was  said  to  be  so  grand  a 
lady,  we  thought  we  must  put  on  our  best  bibs  and 
bands.  So  we  dressed  ourselves  in  our  most  elegant 
ruffles  and  silks,  and  were  introduced  to  her  lady 
ship.  And  don't  you  think  we  found  her  knitting 
with  a  specked  apron  on!  She  received  us  very  gra 
ciously,  and  easily,  but  after  the  compliments  were 
over,  she  resumed  her  knitting." 

But  the  marriage  was  a  failure  in  that  there  were 
no  children.  No  doubt  both  wanted  them,  for  Wash 
ington  was  fond  of  young  people  and  many  anec 
dotes  are  handed  down  of  his  interest  in  little  tots. 
Some  one  has  remarked  that  he  was  deprived  of 
offspring  in  order  that  he  might  become  the  Father 
of  His  Country. 

Toward  those  near  and.  dear  to  her  Martha  Wash 
ington  was  almost  foolishly  affectionate.  In  one  of 
her  letters  she  tells  of  a  visit  "in  Westmoreland 
whare  I  spent  a  weak  very  agreabley.  I  carred  my 
little  patt  with  me  and  left  Jackey  at  home  for  a 
trial  to  see  how  well  I  coud  stay  without  him  though 


THE   FARMER'S    WIFE  223 

we  ware  gon  but  won  fortnight  I  was  quite  impa- 
tiant  to  get  home.  If  I  at  aney  time  heard  the  doggs 
barke  or  a  noise  out,  I  thought  thair  was  a  person 
sent  for  me.  I  often  fancied  he  was  sick  or  some 
accident  had  happened  to  him  so  that  I  think  it  is 
imposspossible  for  me  to  leave  him  as  long  as  Mr. 
Washington  must  stay  when  he  comes  down." 

Any  parent  who  has  been  absent  from  home  under 
similar  circumstances  and  who  has  imagined  the  in 
finite  variety  of  dreadful  things  that  might  befall  a 
loved  child  will  sympathize  with  the  mother's  heart 
— in  spite  of  the  poor  spelling! 

Patty  Custis  was  an  amiable  and  beautiful  girl 
who  when  she  grew  up  came  to  be  called  "the  dark 
lady."  But  she  was  delicate  in  health.  Some  writers 
have  said  that  she  had  consumption,  but  as  her  step 
father  repeatedly  called  it  "Fits/*  I  think  it  is  cer 
tain  that  it  was. some  form  of  epilepsy.  Her  parents 
did  everything  possible  to  restore  her,  but  in  vain. 
Once  they  took  her  to  Bath,  now  Berkeley  Springs, 
for  several  weeks  and  the  expenses  of  that  journey 
we  find  all  duly  set  down  by  Colonel  Washington  in 
the  proper  place.  As  Paul  Leicester  Ford  remarks, 
some  of  the  remedies  tried  savored  of  quackery.  In 
the  diary  for  February  16,  1770,  we  learn  that 


224    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

"Joshua  Evans  who  came  here  last  Night  put  an  iron 
Ring  upon  Patey  and  went  away  after  Breakfast." 
Perhaps  Evans  failed  to  make  the  ring  after  the 
old  medieval  rule  from  three  nails  or  screws  that 
had  been  taken  from  a  disinterred  coffin.  At  any 
rate  the  ring  did  poor  Patty  little  good  and  a  year 
later  "Mr.  Jno.  Johnson  who  has  a  nostrum  for 
Fits  came  here  in  the  afternoon."  In  the  spring  of 
1773  the  dark  lady  died. 

Her  death  added  considerably  to  Washington's 
possessions,  but  there  is  every  evidence  that  he  gave 
no  thought  to  that  aspect  of  the  matter.  "Her  deli 
cate  health,  or  perhaps  her  fond  affection  for  the 
only  father  she  had  ever  known,  so  endeared  her  to 
the  'general',  that  he  knelt  at  her  dying  bed,  and 
with  -a  passionate  burst  of  tears  prayed  aloud  that 
her  life  might  be  spared,  unconscious  that  even  then 
her  spirit  had  departed."  The  next  day  he  wrote 
to  his  brother-in-law:  "It  is  an  easier  matter  to 
conceive  than  describe  the  distress  of  this  Family: 
especially,  that  of  the  unhappy  Parent  of  our  Dear 
Patey  Custis,  when  I  inform  you  that  yesterday  re 
moved  the  Sweet  Innocent  Girl  [who]  Entered  into 
a  Tnore  Happy  &  peaceful  abode  than  any  she  has 
met  with  in,  the  afflicted  Path  she  hitherto  has  trod." 


THE   FARMER'S   WIFE  225 

Before  this  John  Parke  Custis,  or  "Jacky,"  had 
given  his  stepfather  considerable  anxiety.  Jacky's 
mind  turned  chiefly  from  study  to  dogs,  horses  and 
guns  and,  in  an  effort  to  "make  him  fit  for  more 
useful  purposes  than  horse  races,"  Washington  put 
him  under  the  tutorship  of  an  Anglican  clergyman 
named  Jonathan  Boucher,  who  endeavored  to  in 
struct  some  of  the  other  gilded  Virginia  youths  of 
his  day.  But  Latin  and  Greek  were  far  less  inter 
esting  to  the  boy  than  the  pretty  eyes  of  Eleanor 
Calvert  and  the  two  entered  into  a  clandestine  en 
gagement.  In  all  respects  save  one  the  match  was 
eminently  satisfactory,  for  the  Calvert  family,  being 
descended  from  Lord  Baltimore,  was  as  good  as 
any  in  America,  and  Miss  Nelly's  amiable  qualities, 
wrote  Washington,  had  endeared  her  to  her  pros 
pective  relations,  but  both  were  very  young,  Jack 
being  about  seventeen,  and  the  girl  still  younger. 
While  consenting  to  the  match,  therefore,  Washing 
ton  insisted  that  its  consummation  should  be  post 
poned  for  two  years  and  packed  the  boy  off  to 
King's  College,  now  Columbia.  But  Martha  Wash 
ington  was  a  fond  and  doting  mother  and,  as 
Patty's  death  occurred  almost  immediately,  Jack's 
absence  in  distant  New  York  was  more  than  she 


226    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—  FARMER 

could  bear.  He  was,  therefore,  allowed  to  return 
home  in  three  months  instead  of  two  years,  and  in 
February,  1774,  was  wedded  to  the  girl  of  his 
choice.  Mrs.  Washington  felt  the  loss  of  her 
daughter  too  keenly  to  attend,  but  sent  this  message 
by  her  husband  : 


DEAR  NELLY.  —  God  took  from  me  a  Daugh 
ter  when  June  Roses  were  blooming  —  He  has  now 
given  me  another  Daughter  about  her  Age  when 
Winter  winds  are  blowing,  to  warm  my  Heart 
again.  I  am  as  Happy  as  One  so  Afflicted  and  so 
Blest  can  be.  Pray  receive  my  Benediction  and  a 
wish  that  you  may  long  live  the  Loving  Wife  of 
my  happy  Son,  and  a  Loving  Daughter  of 
"Your  affectionate  Mother, 

"M.  WASHINGTON." 

The  marriage,  it  may  be  added  here,  sobered  John 
Custis.  He  and  his  bride  established  themselves  at 
Abingdon  on  the  Potomac,  not  far  from  Mount 
Vernon,  and  with  their  little  ones  were  often  visit 
ors,  especially  when  the  General  was  away  to  the 
war  and  Mrs.  Washington  was  alone.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  war  Jack  himself  entered  the  army,  rose 
to  the  rank  of  colonel  and  died  of  fever  contracted 
in  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  Thus  again  was  the 


THE    FARMER'S    WIFE  227 

mother's  heart  made  sorrowful,  nor  did  the  General 
himself  accept  the  loss  unmoved.  He  at  once 
adopted  the  two  youngest  children,  Eleanor  and 
George  Washington  Parke,  and  brought  them  up 
in  his  own  family. 

Eleanor  Custis,  or  "Nelly,"  as  she  was  affection 
ately  called,  grew  up  a  joyous,  beautiful  cultured 
girl,  who  won  the  hearts  of  all  who  saw  her.  The 
Polish  poet,  Julian  Niemcewicz,  who  visited  Mount 
Vernon  in  1798,  wrote  of  her  as  "the  divine  Miss 
Custis.  .  .  .  She  was  one  of  those  celestial  be 
ings  so  rarely  produced  by  nature,  sometimes 
dreamt  of  by  poets  and  painters,  which  one  cannot 
see  without  a  feeling  of  ecstacy."  As  already  stated, 
she  married  the  General's  nephew,  Lawrence  Lewis. 
In  September,  1799,  Washington  told  the  pair  that 
they  might  build  a  house  on  Grey's  Heights  on  the 
Dogue  Run  Farm  and  rent  the  farm,  "by  all  odds 
the  best  and  most  productive  I  possess,"  promising 
that  on  his  death  the  place  should  go  to  them.  Death 
came  before  the  house  was  built,  but  later  the  pair 
erected  on  the  Heights  "Woodlawn,"  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  pretentious  places  in  Fairfax 
County. 

George  Washington  Parke  Custis  grew  up  much 


228    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

such  a  boy  as  his  father  was.  He  took  few  matters 
seriously  and  neglected  the  educational  opportuni 
ties  thrown  in  his  way.  Washington  said  of  him 
that  "from  his  infancy  I  have  discovered  an  almost 
unconquerable  disposition  to  indolence  in  every 
thing  that  did  not  tend  to  his  amusements."  But 
he  loved  the  boy,  nevertheless,  and  late  in  life  Custis 
confessed,  "we  have  seen  him  shed  tears  of  parental 
solicitude  over  the  manifold  errors  and  follies  of 
our  unworthy  youth."  The  boy  had  a  good  heart, 
however,  and  if  he  was  the  source  of  worry  to  the 
great  man  during  the  great  man's  life,  he  at  least 
did  what  he  could  to  keep  the  great  man's  memory 
green.  He  wrote  a  book  of  recollections  full  of 
filial  affection  and  Latin  phrases  and  painted  in 
numerable  war  pictures  in  which  Washington  was 
always  in  the  foreground  on  a  white  horse  "with 
the  British  streaking  it."  Washington  bequeathed 
to  him  a  square  in  the  City  of  Washington  and 
twelve  hundred  acres  on  Four  Mile  Run  in  the 
vicinity  of  Alexandria.  Upon  land  near  by  inher 
ited  from  his  father  Custis  built  the  famous  Arling 
ton  mansion,  almost  ruining  himself  financially  in 
doing  so.  Upon  his  death  the  estate  fell  to  his 


THE    FARMER'S    WIFE  229 

daughter,  Mrs.  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  it  is  now  our 
greatest  national  cemetery. 

Mrs.  Washington  not  only  managed  the  Mount 
Vernon  household,  but  she  looked  after  the  spinning 
of  yarn,  the  weaving  of  cloth  and  the  making  of 
clothing  for  the  family  and  for  the  great  horde  of 
slaves.  At  times,  particularly  during  the  Revolu 
tion  and  the  non-importation  days  that  preceded  it, 
she  had  as  many  as  sixteen  spinning-wheels  in  oper 
ation  at  once.  The  work  was  done  in  a  special  spin 
ning  house,  which  was  well  equipped  with  looms, 
wheels,  reels,  flaxbrakes  and  other  machinery.  Most 
of  the  raw  material,  such  as  wool  and  flax  and 
sometimes  even  cotton,  was  produced  upon  the 
place  and  never  left  it  until  made  up  into  the  fin 
ished  product. 

In  1768  the  white  man  and  five  negro  girls  em 
ployed  in  the  work  produced  815%  yards  of  linen, 
365^4  yards  of  woolen  cloth,  144  yards  of  linsey 
and  40  yards  of  cotton  cloth.  With  his  usual  pains 
Washington  made  a  comparative  statement  of  the 
cost  of  this  cloth  produced  at  home  and  what  it 
would  have  cost  him  if  it  had  been  purchased  in 
England,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  only 


230    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

£23.19.11  would  be  left  to  defray  the  expense  of 
spinning,  hire  of  the  six  persons  engaged,  "cloath- 
ing,  victualling,  wheels,  &c."  Still  the  work  was 
kept  going. 

A  great  variety  of  fabrics  were  produced: 
"striped  woolen,  wool  plaided,  cotton  striped,  linen, 
wool-birdseye,  cotton  filled  with  wool,  linsey,  M's 
and  O's,  cotton  Indian  dimity,  cotton  jump  stripe, 
linen  filled  with  tow,  cotton  striped  with  silk,  Roman 
M.,  janes  twilled,  huccabac,  broadcloth,  counter- 
pain,  birdseye  diaper,  Kirsey  wool,  barragon,  fus 
tian,  bed-ticking,  herring-box,  and  shalloon." 

In  non-importation  days  Mrs.  Washington  even 
made  the  cloth  for  two  of  her  own  gowns,  using 
cotton  striped  with  silk,  the  latter  being  obtained 
from  the  ravellings  of  brown  silk  stockings  and 
crimson  damask  chair  covers. 

The  housewife  believed  in  good  cheer  and  an 
abundance  of  it,  and  the  larders  at  Mount  Vernon 
were  kept  well  filled.  Once  the  General  protested 
to  Lund  Washington  because  so  many  hogs  had 
been  killed,  whereupon  the  manager  replied  that 
when  he  put  up  the  meat  he  had  expected  that  Mrs. 
Washington  would  have  been  at  home  and  that  he 
knew  there  would  be  need  for  it  because  her  "char- 


C     OVv   >v  *  »  *V  *  ^   X      K  v^X  &    * 

! 


THE    FARMER'S    WIFE  231 

itable  disposition  is  in  the  same  proportion  as  her 
meat  house." 

She  had  a  swarm  of  relatives  by  blood  and  mar 
riage  and  they  visited  her  long  and  often.  The 
BurweUs,  the  Bassetts,  the  Dandridges  and  all  the 
rest  came  so  frequently  that  hardly  a  week  passed 
that  at  least  one  of  them  did  not  sleep  beneath  the 
hospitable  roof.  Even  her  stepmother  paid  her 
many  visits  and,  what  is  more,  was  strongly  urged 
by  the  General  to  make  the  place  her  permanent 
home.  When  Mrs.  Washington  was  at  home  dur 
ing  the  Revolution  her  son  and  her  daughter-in-law 
spent  most  of  their  time  there.  After  the  Revolu 
tion  her  two  youngest  grandchildren  resided  at 
Mount  Vernon,  and  the  two  older  ones,  Elizabeth 
and  Martha,  were  often  there,  as  \vas  their  mother, 
who  married  as  her  second  husband  Doctor  Stuart, 
a  man  whom  Washington  highly  esteemed. 

It  would  be  foolish  to  deny  that  Mrs.  Washington 
did  not  take  pleasure  in  the  honors  heaped  upon  her 
husband  or  that  she  did  not  enjoy  the  consideration 
that  accrued  to  her  as  First  Lady  of  the  Land.  Yet 
public  life  at  times  palled  upon  her  and  she  often 
spoke  of  the  years  of  the  presidency  as  her  "lost 
days."  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  she  said,  were 


232    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

"not  home,  only  a  sojourning.  The  General  and  I 
feel  like  children  just  released  from  school  or  from 
a  hard  taskmaster.  .  .  .  How  many  dear  friends 
I  have  left  behind!  They  fill  my  memory  with 
sweet  thoughts.  Shall  I  ever  see  them  again  ?  Not 
likely  unless  they  come  to  me,  for  the  twilight  is 
gathering  around  our  lives.  I  am  again  fairly  set 
tled  down  to  the  pleasant  duties  of  an  old-fashioned 
Virginia-housekeeper,  steady  as  a  clock,  busy  as  a 
bee,  and  cheerful  as  a  cricket." 

That  she  did  not  overdraw'  her  account  of  her 
industry  is  borne  out  by  a  Mrs.  Carrington,  who, 
with  her  husband,  one  of  the  General's  old  officers, 
visited  Mount  Vernon  about  this  time.  She  wrote : 

"Let  us  repair  to  the  Old  Lady's  room,  which  is 
precisely  in  the  style  of  our  good  old  Aunt's — that 
is  to  say,  nicely  fixed  for  all  sorts  of  work — On  one 
side  sits  the  chambermaid,  with  her  knitting — on  the 
other,  a  little  colored  pet  learning  to  sew,  an  old 
decent  woman,  with  her  table  and  shears,  cutting  out 
the  negroes'  winter  clothes,  while  the  good  old  lady 
directs  them  all,  incessantly  knitting  herself  and 
pointing  out  to  me  several  pair  of  nice  colored  stock 
ings  and  gloves  she  had  just  finished,  and  presenting 
me  with  a  pair  half  done,  which  she  begs  I  will  finish 


THE   FARMER'S    WIFE  233 

and  wear  for  her.  Her  netting  too  is  a  great  source 
of  amusement  and  is  so  neatly  done  that  all  the 
family  are  proud  of  trimming  their  dresses  with  it." 

This  domestic  life  was  dear  to  the  heart  of  our 
Farmer's  wife,  yet  the  home-coming  did  not  fail  to 
awaken  some  melancholy  memories.  To  Mrs. 
George  Fairfax  in  England  she  wrote,  or  rather 
her  husband  wrote  for  her:  "The  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  this  country  since  you  left  it 
(and  it  is  pretty  much  the  case  in  all  other  parts  of 
this  State)  are,  in  one  word,  total.  In  Alexandria, 
I  do  not  believe  there  lives  at  this  day  a  single  family 
with  whom  you  had  the  smallest  acquaintance.  In 
our  neighborhood  Colo.  Mason,  Colo.  McCarty  and 
wife,  Mr.  Chickester,  Mr.  Lund  Washington  and 
all  the  Wageners,  have  left  the  stage  af  human  life; 
and  our  visitors  on  the  Maryland  side  are  gone  and 
going  likewise." 

How  many  people  have  had  like  thoughts !  One 
of  the  many  sad  things  about  being  the  "last  leaf 
upon  the  tree"  is  having  to  watch  the  other  leaves 
shrivel  and  drop  off  and  to  be  left  at  last  in  utter 
loneliness. 

Like  her  husband,  Mrs.  Washington  was  an  early 
riser,  and  it  was  a  habit  she  seems  to  have  kept  up 


234     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

until  the  end.  She  rose  with  the  sun  and  after 
breakfast  invariably  retired  to  her  room  for  an  hour 
of  prayer  and  reading  the  Scriptures.  Her  devo 
tions  over  she  proceeded  with  the  ordinary  duties  of 
the  day. 

She  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  fond  of  cere 
mony  and  to  have  had  a  considerable  sense*  of  per 
sonal  dignity.  A  daughter  of  Augustine  Washing 
ton,  who  when  twelve  years  of  age  spent  several 
weeks  at  Mount  Vernon,  related  when  an  old  woman 
that  every  morning  precisely  at  eleven  o'clock  the 
mistress  of  the  mansion  expected  her  company  to 
assemble  in  the  drawing-room,  where  she  greeted 
them  with  much  formality  and  kept  them  an  hour 
on  their  good  behavior.  When  the  clock  struck 
twelve  she  would  rise  and  ascend  to  her  chamber, 
returning  thence  precisely  at  one,  followed  by  a 
black  servant  carrying  an  immense  bowl  of  punch, 
from  which  the  guests  were  expected  to  partake  be 
fore  dinner.  Some  of  the  younger  girls  became 
curious  to  discover  why  her  "Ladyship"  retired  so 
invariably  to  her  room,  so  they  slipped  out  from 
where  she  was  entertaining  their  mothers,  crept  up 
stairs  and  hid  under  her  bed.  Presently  Lady  Wash- 


THE    FARMER'S    WIFE  235 

ington  entered  and  took  a  seat  before  a  large  table. 
A  man-servant  then  brought  a  large  empty  bowl, 
also  lemons,  sugar,  spices  and  rum,  with  which  she 
proceeded  to  prepare  the  punch.  The  young  people 
under  the  bed  thereupon  fell  to  giggling  until  finally 
she  became  aware  of  their  presence.  Much  offended, 
or  at  least  pretending  to  be,  she  ordered  them  from 
the  room.  They  retired  with  such  precipitancy  that 
one  of  them  fell  upon  the  stairway  and  broke  her 
arm. 

Another  story  is  to  the  effect  that  one  morning 
Nelly  Custis,  Miss  Dandridge  and  some  other  girls 
who  were  visiting  Nelly  came  down  to  breakfast 
dressed  dishabille  and  with  their  hair  done  up  in 
curl  papers.  Mrs.  Washington  did  not  rebuke  them 
and  the  meal  proceeded  normally  until  the  announce 
ment  was  made  that  some  French  officers  of  rank 
and  young  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  who  was 
interested  in  Miss  Custis,  had  driven  up  outside, 
whereupon  the  foolish  virgins  sprang  up  to  leave 
the  room  in  order  to  make  more  conventional  toilets. 
But  Mrs.  Washington  forbade  their  doing  so,  de 
claring  that  what  was  good  enough  for  General 
Washington  was  good  enough  for  any  guest  of  his. 


236    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

She  spoiled  George  Washington  Custis  as  she  had 
his  father,  but  was  more  severe  with  Eleanor  or 
Nelly.  Washington  bought  the  girl  a  fine  imported 
harpsichord,  which  cost  a  thousand  dollars  and 
which  is  still  to  be  seen  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  the 
grandmother  made  Nelly  practise  upon  It  four  or 
five  hours  a  day.  'The  poor  girl,"  relates  her 
brother,  "would  play  and  cry,  and  cry  and  play,  for 
long  hours,  under  the  immediate  eye  of  her  grand 
mother."  For  no  shirking  was  allowed. 

The  truth  would  seem  to  be  that  Lady  Washing 
ton  was  more  severe  with  the  young — always  ex 
cepting  Jacky  and  George — than  was  her  husband. 
He  would  often  watch  their  games  with  evident 
enjoyment  and  would  encourage  them  to  continue 
their  amusements  and  not  to  regard  him.  He  was 
the  confidant  of  their  hopes  and  fears  and  even  amid 
tremendous  cares  of  state  found  time  to  give  advice 
about  their  love  affairs.  For  he  was  a  very  human 
man,  after  all,  by  no  means  the  marble  statue  sculp 
tured  by  some  historians. 

Yet  no  doubt  Mrs.  Washington's  severity  pro 
ceeded  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  the  fitness  of  things 
rather  than  from  any  harshness  of  heart.  The  little 
old  lady  who  wrote :  "Kiss  Marie.  I  send  her  two 


THE   FARMER'S   WIFE  237 

handkerchiefs  to  wipe  her  nose,"  could  not  have 
been  so  very  terrible ! 

She  was  beloved  by  her  servants  and  when  she 
left  Mount  Vernon  for  New  York  in  1789  young 
Robert  Lewis  reported  that  "numbers  of  these  poor 
wretches  seemed  most  affected,  my  aunt  equally  so." 
At  Alexandria  she  stopped  at  Doctor  Stuart's,  the 
home  of  two  of  her  grandchildren,  and  next  morn 
ing  there  was  another  affecting  scene,  such  as  Lewis 
never  again  wished  to  witness — "the  family  in  tears 
— the  children  a-bawling — &  everything  in  the  most 
lamentable  situation." 

Although  she  was  not  the  paragon  that  some 
writers  have  pictured,  she  was  a  splendid  home- 
loving  American  woman,  brave  in  heart  and  helpful 
to  her  husband,  neither  a  drone  nor  a  drudge — in  the 
true  Scriptural  sense  a  worthy  woman  who  sought 
wool  and  flax  and  worked  willingly  with  her  hands. 
As  such  her  price  was  far  beyond  rubies. 

As  has  been  remarked  before,  no  brilliant  sayings 
from  her  lips  have  been  transmitted  to  posterity. 
But  I  suspect  that  the  shivering  soldiers  on  the 
bleak  hillsides  at  Valley  Forge  found  more  comfort 
in  the  warm  socks  she  knitted  than  they  could  have 
in  the  bon  mots  of  a  Madame  de  Stael  or  in  the 


238     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

grace  of  a  Josephine  and  that  her  homely  interest 
in  their  welfare  tied  their  hearts  closer  to  their 
Leader  and  their  Country. 

It  is  not  merely  because  she  was  the  wife  of  the 
Hero  of  the  Revolution  and  the  first  President  of 
the  Republic  that  she  is  the  most  revered  of  all 
American  women. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
A  FARMER'S  AMUSEMENTS 

NO  one  would  ever  think  of  characterizing 
George  Washington  as  frivolous  minded,  but 
from  youth  to  old  age  he  was  a  believer  in  the  adage 
that  all  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy — a 
saying  that  many  an  overworked  farmer  of  our  own 
day  would  do  well  to  take  to  heart. 

Like  most  Virginians  he  was  decidedly  a  social 
being  and  loved  to  be  in  the  company  of  his  kind. 
This  trait  was  noticeable  in  his  youth  and  during 
his  early  military  career,  nor  did  it  disappear  after 
he  married  and  settled  down  at  Mount  Vernon. 
Until  the  end  he  and  Mrs.  Washington  kept  open 
house,  and  what  a  galaxy  of  company  they  had ! 
Scarcely  a  day  passed  without  some  guest  crossing 
their  hospitable  threshold,  nor  did  such  visitors 
come  merely  to  leave  their  cards  or  to  pay  fash 
ionable  five-minute  calls.  They  invariably  stayed 
to  dinner  and  most  generally  for  the  night;  very 

239 


240    GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

often  for  days  or  weeks  at  a  time.  After  the  Revo 
lution  the  number  of  guests  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  Mount  Vernon  became  "little  better  than 
a  well-resorted  inn." 

Artists  came  to  paint  the  great  man's  picture ;  the 
sculptor  Houdon  to  take  the  great  man's  bust,  ar 
riving  from  Alexandria,  by  the  way,  after  the  fam 
ily  had  gone  to  bed;  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  to 
visit  his  old  friend;  Mrs.  Macaulay  Graham  to  ob 
tain  material  for  her  history ;  Noah  Webster  to  con 
sider  whether  he  would  become  the  tutor  of  young 
Custis;  Mr.  John  Fitch,  November  4,  1785,  "to  pro 
pose  a  draft  &  Model  of  a  machine  for  promoting 
Navigation  by  means  of  a  Steam";  Charles  Thom 
son,  secretary  of  the  Continental  Congress,  to  notify 
the  General  of  his  election  to  the  presidency;  a  host 
of  others,  some  out  of  friendship,  others  from  mere 
curiosity  or  a  desire  for  free  lodging. 

The  visit  of  Lafayette  was  the  last  he  made  to 
this  country  while  the  man  with  whose  fame  his 
name  is  inseparably  linked  remained  alive.  He 
visited  Mount  Vernon  in  August,  1784,  and  again 
three  months  later.  When  the  time  for  a  final  adieu 
came  Washington  accompanied  him  to  Annapolis 
and  saw  him  on  the  road  to  Baltimore.  The  gener- 


A   FARMER'S   AMUSEMENTS       241 

ous  young  benefactor  of  America  was  very  dear  to 
Washington,  and  the  parting  affected  him  exceed 
ingly.  Soon  after  he  wrote  to  the  departed  friend 
a  letter  in  which  he  showed  his  heart  in  a  way  that 
was  rare  with  him.  "In  the  moment  of  our  separa 
tion,"  said  he,  "upon  the  road  as  I  travelled,  and 
every  hour  since,  I  have  felt  all  the  love,  respect, 
and  attachment  for  you  with  which  length  of  years, 
close  connextion,  and  your  merits  have  inspired  me. 
I  have  often  asked  myself,  as  our  carriages  sepa 
rated,  whether  that  was  the  last  sight  I  ever  should 
have  of  you." 

It  was  a  true  foreboding.  Often  in  times  that 
followed  Washington  was  to  receive  tidings  of  his 
friend's  triumphs  and  perilous  adventures  amid  the 
bloody  turmoil  of  the  French  Revolution,  was  to 
entertain  his  son  at  Mount  Vernon  when  the  father 
lay  in  the  dark  dungeons  of  Olmiitz,  but  was  never 
again  to  look  into  his  face.  Years  later  the  younger 
man,  revisiting  the  grateful  Republic  he  had  helped 
to  found,  was  to  turn  aside  from  the  acclaiming 
plaudits  of  admiring  multitudes  and  stand  pensively 
beside  the  Tomb  of  his  Leader  and  reflect  upon  the 
years  in  which  they  had  stood  gloriously  shoulder 
to  shoulder  in  defense  of  a  noble  cause. 


242    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Even  when  Washington  was  at  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment  many  persons  stopped  at  Mount  Vernon 
and  were  entertained  by  the  manager.  Several 
times  the  absent  owner  sent  wine  and  other  luxuries 
for  the  use  of  such  guests.  When  he  was  at  home 
friends,  relatives,  diplomats,  delegations  of  Indians 
to  visit  the  Great  White  Father  swarmed  thither  in 
shoals.  In  1797  young  Lafayette  and  his  tutor,  Mon 
sieur  Frestel,  whom  Washington  thought  a  very  sen 
sible  man,  made  the  place,  by  invitation,  their  home 
for  several  months.  In  the  summer  of  that  year 
Washington  wrote  to  his  old  secretary,  Tobias  Lear : 
"I  am  alone  at  present,  and  shall  be  glad  to  see  you 
this  evening.  Unless  some  one  pops  in  unexpectedly 
— Mrs.  Washington  and  myself  will  do  what  I  be 
lieve  has  not  been  done  within  the  last  twenty  Years 
by  us, — that  is  to  set  down  to  dinner  by  ourselves." 

Washington  was  the  soul  of  hospitality.  He  en 
joyed  having  people  in  his  house  and  eating  at  his 
board,  but  there  is  evidence  that  toward  the  last  he 
grew  somewhat  weary  of  the  stream  of  strangers. 
But  neither  then  nor  at  any  other  time  in  his  life 
did  he  show  his  impatience  to  a  visitor  or  turn  any 
man  from  his  door.  His  patience  was  sorely  tried 
at  times.  For  example,  we  find  in  his  diary  under 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       243 

date  of  September  7,  1785:  "At  Night,  a  Man  of 
the  name  of  Purdie,  came  to  offer  himself  to  me  as 
a  Housekeeper  or  Household  Steward — he  had  some 
testimonials  respecting  his  character — but  being  in 
toxicated,  and  in  other  respects  appearing  in  an  un 
favorable  light  I  informed  him  that  he  would  not 
answer  my  purpose,  but  that  he  might  stay  all 
night." 

No  matter  how  many  visitors  came  the  Farmer 
proceeded  about  his  business  as  usual,  particularly  in 
the  morning,  devoting  dinner  time  and  certain  hours 
of  the  afternoon  and  evening  to  those  who  were  so 
journing  with  him.  He  was  obliged,  in  self-defense, 
to  adopt  some  such  course.  He  wrote :  "My  man 
ner  of  living  is  plain,  and  I  do  not  mean  to  be  put 
out  by  it.  A  glass  of  wine  and  a  bit  of  mutton  are 
always  ready,  and  such  as  will  be  content  to  partake 
of  them  are  always  welcome.  Those  who  expect 
more  will  be  disappointed." 

After  his  retirement  from  the  presidency  he  in 
duced  his  nephew  Lawrence  Lewis  to  come  to  Mount 
Vernon  and  take  over  some  of  the  duties  of  enter 
taining  guests,  particularly  in  the  evening,  as  Wash 
ington  had  reached  an  age  when  he  was  averse  to 
staying  up  late.  Lewis  not  only  performed  the  task 


244    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

+ 

satisfactorily,  but  found  incidental  diversion  that 
led  to  matrimony. 

Every  visitor  records  that  the  Farmer  was  a  kind 
and  considerate  host.  Elkanah  Watson  relates  that 
one  bitter  winter  night  at  Mount  Vernon,  having  a 
severe  cold  that  caused  him  to  cough  incessantly,  he 
heard  the  door  of  his  chamber  open  gently  and  there 
stood  the  General  with  a  candle  in  one  hand  and  a 
bowl  of  hot  tea  in  another.  Doubtless  George  and 
Martha  had  heard  the  coughing  and  in  family  coun 
cil  had  decided  that  their  guest  must  have  attention. 

Washington  was  a  Cavalier,  not  a  Puritan,  and 
had  none  of  the  old  New  England  prejudice  against 
the  theater.  In  fact,  it  was  one  of  his  fondest  pleas 
ures  from  youth  to  old  age.  In  his  Barbadoes  jour 
nal  he  records  being  "treated  with  a  play  ticket  by 
Mr.  Carter  to  see  the  Tragedy  of  George  Barn  well 
acted."  In  1752  he  attended  a  performance  at  Fred- 
ericksburg  and  thereafter,  whenever  occasion  of 
fered,  which  during  his  earlier  years  was  not  often, 
he  took  advantage  of  it.  He  even  expressed  a  desire 
to  act  himself.  After  his  resignation  and  marriage 
opportunities  were  more  frequent  and  in  his  cash 
memorandum  books  are  many  entries  of  expendi 
tures  for  tickets  to  performances  at  Alexandria  and 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       245 

elsewhere.  Thus  on  September  20,  1768,  in  his 
daily  record  of  Where  &  how  my  time  is  Spent 
he  writes  that  he  "&  Mrs.  Washington  &  ye  two 
children  were  up  to  Alexandria  to  see  the  Inconstant 
or  way  to  win  him  acted."  Next  day  he  "Stayd  in 
Town  all  day  &  saw  the  Tragedy  of  Douglas  playd." 

Such  performances  were  probably  given  by  stroll 
ing  players  who  had  few  accessories  in  the  way  of 
scenery  to  assist  them  in  creating  their  illusions. 

Tn  September,  1771,  when  at  Annapolis  to  attend 
the  races,  he  went  to  plays  four  times  in  five  days, 
the  fifth  day  being  Sunday.  Two  years  later,  being 
in  New  York  City,  he  saw  Hamlet  and  Cross  Pur 
poses. 

On  many  occasions  both  in  this  period  of  his  life 
and  later  he  went  to  sleight  of  hand  performances, 
wax  works,  puppet  shows,  animal  shows,  "to  hear 
the  Armonica,"  concerts  and  other  entertainments. 

The  "association"  resolutions  of  frugality  and 
self-denial  by  the  Continental  Congress  put  an  end 
temporarily  to  plays  in  the  colonies  outside  the  Brit 
ish  lines  and  put  Washington  into  a  greater  play, 
"not,  as  he  once  wished,  as  a  performer,  but  as  a 
character."  There  were  amateur  performances  at 
Valley  Forge,  but  they  aroused  the  hostility  of  the 


246    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

puritanical,  and  Congress  forbade  them.  Washing 
ton  seems,  however,  to  have  disregarded  the  inter 
diction  after  Yorktown. 

He  had  few  opportunities  to  gratify  his  fondness 
for  performances  in  the  period  of  1784-89,  but  dur 
ing  his  presidency,  while  residing  in  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  he  was  a  regular  attendant.  He  gave 
frequent  theater  parties,  sending  tickets  to  his 
friends.  Word  that  he  would  attend  a  play  always 
insured  a  "full  house,"  and  upon  his  entrance  to  his 
box  the  orchestra  would  play  Hail  Columbia  and 
Washington's  March  amid  great  enthusiasm. 

The  Federal  Gazette  described  a  performance  of 
The  Maid  of  the  Mill,  which  he  attended  in  1792,  as 
follows : 

"When  Mr.  Hodgkinson  as  Lord  Ainsworth  ex 
hibited  nobleness  of  mind  in  his  generosity  to  the 
humble  miller  and  his  daughter,  Patty;  when  he 
found  her  blessed  with  all  the  qualities  that  capti 
vate  and  endear  life,  and  knew  she  was  capable  of 
adorning  a  higher  sphere;  when  he  had  interviews 
with  her  upon  the  subject  in  which  was  painted  the 
amiableness  of  an  honorable  passion;  and  after  his 
connection,  when  he  bestowed  his  benefactions  on 
the  relatives,  etc.,  of  the  old  miller,  the  great  and 


A   FARMER'S   AMUSEMENTS       247 

good  Washington  manifested  his  approbation  of  this 
interesting  part  of  the  opera  by  the  tribute  of  a 
tear." 

Another  amusement  that  both  the  Farmer  and  his 
wife  enjoyed  greatly  was  dancing.  In  his  youth  he 
attended  balls  and  "routs"  whenever  possible  and 
when  fighting  French  and  Indians  on  the  frontier 
he  felt  as  one  of  his  main  deprivations  his  inability 
to  attend  the  "Assemblies."  After  his  marriage  he 
and  his  wife  went  often  to  balls  in  Alexandria,  at 
tired  no  doubt  in  all  the  bravery  of  imported  English 
clothes.  He  describes  a  ball  of  1760  in  these  terms : 

"Went  to  a  ball  at  Alexandria,  where  Musick  and 
dancing  was  the  chief  entertainment,  however,  in  a 
convenient  room  detached  for  the  purpose  abounded 
great  plenty  of  bread  and  butter,  some  biscuits,  with 
tea  and  coffee,  which  the  drinkers  of  could  not  dis 
tinguish  from  hot  water  sweet'ned —  Be  it  remem 
bered  that  pocket  handkerchiefs  served  the  purposes 
of  Table  cloths  &  Napkins  and  that  no  apologies 
were  made  for  either.  I  shall  therefore  distinguish 
this  ball  by  the  stile  and  title  of  the  Bread  &  Butter 
Ball." 

A  certain  Mr.  Christian  conducted  a  dancing 
school  which  met  at  the  homes  of  the  patrons,  and 


248    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  Custis  children,  John  Parke  and  Martha,  were 
members,  as  were  Elizabeth  French  of  Rose  Hill, 
Milly  Posey  and  others  of  the  neighborhood  young 
people.  In  1770  the  class  met  four  times  at  Mount 
Vernon  and  we  can  not  doubt  that  occasionally  the 
host  danced  with  some  of  the  young  misses  and  en 
joyed  it. 

An  established  institution  was  the  election  ball, 
which  took  place  on  the  night  following  the  choice 
of  the  delegate  to  the  Burgesses.  Washington  often 
contributed  to  the  expenses  of  these  balls,  particu 
larly  when  he  was  himself  elected.  No  doubt  they 
were  noisy,  hilarious  and  perhaps  now  and  then  a 
bit  rough. 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  dances  by  which 
Washington  and  his  officers  and  their  ladies  helped 
to  while  away  the  tedium  of  long  winters  during  the 
Revolution,  but  the  story  of  these  has  been  often  told 
and  besides  lies  outside  the  limits  of  this  book,  as 
does  the  dancing  at  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
during  his  presidency. 

There  is  much  conflicting  evidence  regarding 
Washington's  later  dancing  exploits.  Some  writers 
say  that  he  never  tripped  the  light  fantastic  after  the 


A   FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       249 

Revolution  and  that  one  of  his  last  participations 
was  at  the  Fredericksburg  ball  after  the  capture  of 
Cornwallis  when  he  "went  down  come  dozen  couple 
in  the  contra  dance."  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
long  afterward  he  would  at  least  walk  through  one 
or  two  dances,  even  though  he  did  not  actually  take 
the  steps.  One  good  lady  who  knew  him  well  asserts 
that  he  often  danced  with  Nelly  Custis,  and  he  seems 
to  have  danced  in  1796  when  he  was  sixty- four.  But 
to  the  invitation  to  the  Alexandria  assembly  early  in 
1799  he  replied: 

"Mrs.  Washington  and  myself  have  been  honored 
with  your  polite  invitation  to  the  assemblies  of  Alex 
andria  this  winter,  and  thank  you  for  this  mark  of 
your  attention.  But,  alas!  our  dancing  days  are  no 
more.  We  wish,  however,  all  those  who  have  a  relish 
for  so  agreeable  and  innocent  an  amusement  all  the 
pleasure  the  season  will  afford  them." 

Nor  was  he  puritanical  in  respect  to  cards.  From 
his  account  books  we  find  that  he  ordered  them  by 
the  dozen  packs,  and  his  diaries  contain  such  entries 
as  "At  home  all  day  over  cards,  it  snowing."  To 
increase  the  interest  he  not  infrequently  played  for 
money,  though  rarely  for  a  large  amount.  "Loo" 


250    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

and  whist  seem  to  have  been  the  games  played,  but 
not  "bridge"  or  draw  poker,  which  were  then  un 
known. 

From  entries  in  his  cash  memorandum  books  it  is 
evident  that  he  loved  a  quiet  game  rather  frequently. 
Thus  in  his  memorandum  for  1772  I  find  the  entry 
for  September  five:  "To  Cash  won  at  cards"  £1.5. 
Four  days  later  he  writes :  "To  Cash  won  at  Cards 
at  Mrs.  Calverts"  ten  shillings.  But  on  September 
17th  he  lost  £1.5;  on  September  30th,  £2,  and  on 
October  5th,  six  shillings.  Two  days  later  his  luck 
changed  and  he  won  £2.5,  while  on  the  seventh  he 
won  £12.8.  This  was  the  most  serious  game  that  I 
have  found  a  record  of,  and  the  cards  must  either 
have  run  well  for  him  or  else  he  had  unskilful  op 
ponents.  The  following  March,  when  attending  the 
Burgesses  at  Williamsburg,  he  got  into  a  game, 
probably  at  Mrs.  Campbell's  tavern,  where  he  took 
his  meals,  and  dropped  £7.10. 

In  one  of  his  account  books  I  find  two  pages  'de 
voted  to  striking  a  balance  between  what  he  won 
and  what  he  lost  from  January  7,  1772,  to  January 
1,  1775.  In  that  time  he  won  £72.2.6  and  lost 
£78.5.9.  Hence  we  find  the  entry:  "By  balance 
against  Play  from  Jany.  1772  to  this  date  .  .  . 


A   FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       251 

6.  3.  3."  But  he  must  have  had  a  lot  of  fun  at  a 
cost  of  that  six  pounds  three  shillings  and  three 
pence ! 

It  should  be  remarked  here  that  gaming  was  then 
differently  regarded  in  Virginia  from  what  it  is  now. 
Many  even  of  the  Episcopal  clergymen  played  cards 
for  money  and  still  kept  fast  hold  upon  their  belief 
that  they  would  go  to  Heaven. 

The  same  may  also  be  said  of  lotteries,  in  which 
Washington  now  and  then  took  a  flier.  Many  of  the 
churches  of  that  day,  even  in  New  England,  were 
built  partly  or  wholly  with  money  raised  in  that  way. 
January  5,  1773,  Washington  states  that  he  has  re 
ceived  sixty  tickets  in  the  Delaware  lottery  from  his 
friend  Lord  Stirling  and  that  he  has  "put  12  of  the 
above  Sixty  into  the  Hands  of  the  Revd.  Mr.  Ma- 
gowan  to  sell."  And  "the  Revd."  sold  them  too ! 

In  his  journal  of  the  trip  to  Barbadoes  taken  with 
his  brother  Lawrence  we  find  that  on  his  way  home 
he  attended  "a  Great  Main  of  cks  [cocks]  fought  in 
Yorktown  between  Gloucester  &  York  for  5  pistoles 
each  battle  &  10  ye.  odd."  Occasionally  he  seems  to 
have  witnessed  other  mains,  but  I  have  found  no 
evidence  that  he  made  the  practice  in  any  sense  a 
habit. 


252     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

As  a  counterweight  to  his  interest  in  so  brutal  a 
sport  I  must  state  that  he  was  exceedingly  fond  of 
afternoon  teas  and  of  the  social  enjoyments  con 
nected  with  tea  drinking.  Tea  was  regularly  served 
at  his  army  headquarters  and  in  summer  afternoons 
on  the  Mount  Vernon  veranda. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  he  also  enjoyed 
horse  racing.  In  September,  1768,  he  mentions  go 
ing  "to  a  Purse  race  at  Accotinck,"  a  hamlet  a  few 
miles  below  Mount  Vernon  where  a  race  track  was 
maintained.  In  1772  he  attended  the  Annapolis  races, 
being  a  guest  of  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  and  he 
repeated  the  trip  in  1773.  In  the  following  May  he 
went  to  a  race  and  barbecue  at  Johnson's  Ferry. 
George  Washington  Custis  tells  us  that  the  Farmer 
kept  blooded  horses  and  that  his  colt  "Magnolia" 
once  ran  for  a  purse,  presumably  losing,  as  if  the 
event  had  been  otherwise  we  should  probably  have 
been  informed  of  the  fact.  In  1786  Washington 
went  to  Alexandria  "to  see  the  Jockey  Club  purse 
run  for,"  and  I  have  noticed  a  few  other  references 
to  races,  but  I  conclude  that  he  went  less  often  than 
some  writers  would  have  us  believe. 

Washington  was  decidedly  an  outdoor  man.  Be 
ing  six  feet  two  inches  tall,  and  slender  rather  than 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       253 

heavily  made,  he  was  well  fitted  for  athletic  sports. 
Tradition  says  that  he  once  threw  a  stone  across  the 
Rappahannock  at  a  spot  where  no  other  man  could 
do  it,  and  that  he  could  out  jump  any  one  in  Virginia. 
He  also  excelled  in  the  game  of  putting  the  bar,  as 
a  story  related  by  the  artist  Peale  bears  witness. 

Of  outdoor  sports  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  hunt 
ing  most.  He  probably  had  many  unrecorded  ex 
periences  with  deer  and  turkeys  when  a  surveyor 
and  when  in  command  upon  the  western  border,  but 
his  main  hunting  adventure  after  big  game  took 
place  on  his  trip  to  the  Ohio  in  1770.  Though  the 
party  was  on  the  move  most  of  the  time  and  was 
looking  for  rich  land  rather  than  for  wild  animals, 
they  nevertheless  took  some  hunts. 

On  October  twenty-second,  in  descending  the 
stretch  of  the  Ohio  near  the  mouth  of  Little  Beaver 
Creek  and  above  the  Mingo  Town,  they  saw  many 
wild  geese  and  several  kinds  of  duck  and  "killed  five 
wild  turkeys."  Three  days  later  they  "saw  innumer 
able  quantities  of  turkeys,  and  many  deer  watering 
and  browsing  on  the  shore  side,  some  of  which  we 
killed." 

He  does  not  say  whether  they  shot  this  game  from 
the  canoe  or  not,  but  probably  on  sighting  the  game 


254    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

they  would  put  to  shore  and  then  one  or  more  would 
steal  up  on  the  quarry.  Their  success  was  probably 
increased  by  the  fact  that  they  had  two  Indians  with 
them. 

Few  people  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  what  is  now 
West  Virginia  and  Ohio  then  contained  many  buf 
faloes.  Below  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Hockhocking 
the  voyagers  came  upon  a  camp  of  Indians,  the  chief 
of  which,  an  old  friend  who  had  accompanied  him 
to  warn  out  the  French  in  1753,  gave  Washington 
"a  quarter  of  very  fine  buffalo."  A  creek  near  the 
camp,  according  to  the  Indians,  was  an  especial  re 
sort  for  these  great  beasts. 

Fourteen  miles  up  the  Great  Kanawha  the  trav 
elers  took  a  day  off  and  "went  a  hunting ;  killed  five 
buffaloes  and  wounded  some  others,  three  deer,  &c. 
This  country  abounds  in  buffaloes  and  wild  game  of 
all  kinds;  as  also  in  all  kinds  of  wild  fowls,  there 
being  in  the  bottoms  a  great  many  small  grassy 
ponds,  or  lakes,  which  are  full  of  swans,  geese,  and 
ducks  of  different  kinds." 

How  many  of  the  buffaloes  fell  to  his  gun  Wash 
ington  does  not  record,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  he 
had  at  least  some  shots  at  them.  And  beyond  ques 
tion  he  helped  to  devour  the  delicious  buffalo  humps, 


A   FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       255 

these  being,  with  the  flesh  of  the  bighorn  sheep,  the 
ne  plus  ultra  of  American  big  game  delicacies. 

The  region  in  which  these  events  took  place  was 
also  notable  for  its  big  trees.  Near  the  mouth  of  the 
Kanawha  they  "met  with  a  sycamore  about  sixty 
yards  from  the  river  of  a  most  extraordinary  size, 
it  measuring,  three  feet  from  the  ground,  forty-five 
feet  round  [almost  fifteen  feet  through],  lacking 
two  inches ;  and  not  fifty  yards  from  it  was  another, 
thirty-one  feet  round/' 

When  at  home,  Washington  now  and  then  took 
a  gun  and  went  out  after  ducks,  "hairs,"  wild  tur 
keys  and  other  game,  and  occasionally  he  records 
fair  bags  of  mallards,  teal,  bald  faces  and  "blew 
wings, "  one  of  the  best  being  that  of  February  18, 
1768,  when  he  "went  a  ducking  between  breakfast 
and  dinner  &  killed  2  mallards  &  5  bald  faces."  It 
is  doubtful  whether  he  was  at  all  an  expert  shot.  In 
fact,  he  much  preferred  chasing  the  fox  with  dogs 
to  hunting  with  a  gun. 

Fox  hunting  in  the  Virginia  of  that  day  was  a 
widely  followed  sport.  It  was  brought  over  from 
England  and  perhaps  its  greatest  devotee  was  old 
Lord  Fairfax,  with  whom  Washington  hunted  when 
still  in  his  teens.  Fairfax,  whose  seat  was  at  Green- 


256    GEORGE   WASHINGTON—FARMER 

way  Court  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  was  so  pas 
sionately  fond  of  it  that  if  foxes  were  scarce  near 
his  home  he  would  go  to  a  locality  where  they  were 
plentiful,  would  establish  himself  at  an  inn  and 
would  keep  open  house  and  welcome  every  person  of 
good  character  and  respectable  appearance  who 
cared  to  join  him. 

The  following  are  some  typical  entries  from 
Washington's  Where  &  how  my  time  is  Spent: 
"Jany.  1st.  (1768)  Fox  huntg.  in  my  own  Neck 
with  Mr.  Robt.  Alexander  and  Mr.  Colville — catchd 
nothing — Captn.  Posey  with  us."  There  wrere  many 
similar  failures  and  no  successes  in  the  next  six 
weeks,  but  on  February  twelfth  he  records  joyfully, 
"Catchd  two  foxes/'  and  on  the  thirteenth  "catch  2 
more  foxes."  March  2,  1768,  "Hunting  again,  & 
catchd  a  fox  with  a  bobd  Tail  &  cut  Ears,  after  7 
hours  chase  in  wch.  most  of  the  dogs  were  worsted." 
March  twenty-ninth,  "Fox  Hunting  with  Jacky  Cus- 
tis  &  Ld.  [Lund]  Washington —  Catchd  a  fox  after 
3  hrs.  chase."  November  twenty-second,  "Went  a 
fox  huntg.  with  Lord  Fairfax  &  Colo.  Fairfax  & 
my  Br.  Catchd  2  Foxes."  For  two  weeks  there 
after  they  hunted  almost  every  day  with  varying 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       257 

success.  September  30,  1769,  he  records :  "catchd  a 
Rakoon." 

On  January  27,  1770,  the  dogs  ran  a  deer  out  of 
the  Neck  and  some  of  them  did  not  get  home  till 
next  day.  The  finding  of  a  deer  was  no  uncommon 
experience,  but  on  no  occasion  does  the  chase  seem 
to  have  been  successful,  as,  when  hard  pressed,  the 
fugitive  would  take  to  the  water  where  the  dogs 
could  not  follow.  January  4,  1772,  the  hunters 
"found  both  a  Bear  and  a  Fox  but  got  neither." 

Bear  and  deer  were  still  fairly  plentiful  in  the 
region,  and  the  fact  serves  to  indicate  that  the  coun 
try  was  not  yet  thickly  settled,  nor  is  it  to  this  day. 

In  November,  1771,  Washington  and  Jack  Cus- 
tis  wrent  to  Colonel  Mason's  at  Gunston  Hall,  a  few 
miles  below  Mount  Vernon,  to  engage  in  a  grand 
deer  drive  in  which  many  men  and  dogs  took  part. 
Mason  had  an  estate  of  ten  thousand  acres  which 
was  favorably  located  for  such  a  purpose,  being 
nearly  surrounded  by  water,  with  peninsulas  on 
which  the  game  could  be  cornered  and  forced  to  take 
to  the  river.  On  the  first  day  they  killed  two  deer, 
but  on  the  second  they  killed  nothing.  No  doubt  they 
had  a  hilarious  time  of  it,  dogs  baying,  horsemen 


258     GEORGE   WASHINGT  ON— FARMER 

dashing  here  and  there  shouting  at  the  top  of  their 
voices,  and  with  plenty  of  fat  venison  and  other 
good  cheer  at  the  Hall  that  night. 

Washington's  most  remarkable  hunting  experi 
ence  occurred  on  the  twenty-third  of  January,  1770, 
when  he  records :  "Went  a  hunting  after  breakfast 
&  found  a  Fox  at  Muddy  hole  &  killed  her  (it  be 
ing  a  Bitch)  after  a  chase  of  better  than  two  hours 
&  after  treeing  her  twice  the  last  of  which  times  she 
fell  dead  out  of  the  Tree  after  being  therein  sevl. 
minutes  apparently  well."  Lest  he  may  be  accused 
of  nature  faking,  it  should  be  explained  that  the 
tree  was  a  leaning  tree.  Occasionally  the  foxes  also 
took  refuge  in  hollow  trees,  up  which  they  could 
climb. 

The  day  usually  ended  by  all  the  hunters  riding 
to  Mount  Vernon,  Belvoir,  Gunston  Hall,  or  some 
other  mansion  for  a  bountiful  dinner.  Mighty  then 
were  the  gastronomic  feats  performed,  and  over  the 
Madeira  the  incidents  of  the  day  were  discussed  as 
Nimrods  in  all  ages  are  wont  to  do. 

Being  so  much  interested  in  fox  hunting,  our 
Farmer  proceeded,  with  his  usual  painstaking  care, 
to  build  up  a  pack  of  hounds.  The  year  1768  was 
probably  the  period  of  his  greatest  interest  in  the 


A   FARMER'S   AMUSEMENTS       259 

subject  and  his  diary  is  full  of  accounts  of  the  ani 
mals.  Hounds  were  now,  in  fact,  his  hobby,  suc 
ceeding  in  interest  his  horses.  He  did  his  best  to 
breed  according  to  scientific  principles,  but  several 
entries  show  that  the  dogs  themselves  were  inclined 
blissfully  to  ignore  the  laws  of  eugenics  as  applied 
to  hounds. 

Among  his  dogs  in  this  period  were  "Mopsey," 
"Taster,"  "Tipler,"  "Cloe,"  "Lady,"  "Forester"  and 
"Captain."  August  6,  1768,  we  learn  that  "Lady" 
has  four  puppies,  which  are  to  be  called  "Vulcan," 
"Searcher,"  "Rover,"  and  "Sweetlips." 

Like  all  dog  owners  he  had  other  troubles  with 
his  pets.  Once  we  find  him  anointing  all  the  hounds 
that  had  the  mange  "with  Hogs  Lard  &  Brimstone." 
Again  his  pack  is  menaced  by  a  suspected  mad  dog, 
which  he  shoots. 

The  Revolution  broke  rudely  in  upon  the  Farmer's 
sports,  but  upon  his  return  to  Mount  Vernon  he  soon 
took  up  the  old  life.  Knowing  his  bent,  Lafayette 
sent  him  a  pack  of  French  hounds,  two  dogs  and 
three  bitches,  and  Washington  took  much  interest 
in  them.  According  to  George  Washington  Custis 
they  were  enormous  brutes,  better  built  for  grap 
pling  stags  or  boars  than  chasing  foxes,  and  so  fierce 


260     GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

that  a  huntsman  had  to  preside  at  their  meals.  Their 
kennel  stood  a  hundred  yards  south  of  the  old  fam 
ily  vault,  and  Washington  visited  them  every  morn 
ing  and  evening.  According  to  Custis,  it  was  the 
Farmer's  desire  to  have  them  so  evenly  matched  and 
trained  that  if  one  leading  dog  should  lose  the  scent, 
another  would  be  at  hand  to  recover  it  and  thus  in 
full  cry  you  might  cover  the  pack  with  a  blanket. 

The  biggest  of  the  French  hounds,  "Vulcan,"  was 
so  vast  that  he  was  often  ridden  by  Master  Custis 
and  he  seems  to  have  been  a  rather  privileged  char 
acter.  Once  when  company  was  expected  to  dinner 
Mrs.  Washington  ordered  that  a  lordly  ham  should 
be  cooked  and  served.  At  dinner  she  noticed  that 
the  ham  was  not  in  its  place  and  inquiry  developed 
that  "Vulcan"  had  raided  the  kitchen  and  made  off 
with  the  meat.  Thereupon,  of  course,  the  mistress 
scolded  and  equally,  of  course,  the  master  smiled 
and  gleefully  told  the  news  to  the  guests. 

Billy  Lee,  the  colored  valet  who  had  followed  the 
General  through  the  Revolution,  usually  acted  as 
huntsman  and,  mounted  on  "Chinkling"  or  some 
other  good  steed,  with  a  French  horn  at  his  back, 
strove  hard  to  keep  the  pack  in  sight,  no  easy  task 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       261 

among  the  rough  timber-covered  hills  of  Fairfax 
County. 

On  a  hunting  day  the  Farmer  breakfasted  by  can 
dle-light,  generally  upon  corn  cakes  and  milk,  and  at 
daybreak,  with  his  guests,  Billy  and  the  hounds, 
sallied  forth  to  find  a  fox.  Washington  always  rode 
a  good  horse  and  sometimes  \vore  a  blue  coat,  scar 
let  waistcoat,  buckskin  breeches,  top  boots  and  vel 
vet  cap  and  carried  a  whip  with  a  long  thong.  When 
a  fox  was  started  none  rode  more  gallantly  or 
cheered  more  joyously  than  did  he  and  as  a  rule  he 
was  in  at  the  death,  for,  as  Jefferson  asserts,  he  was 
"the  best  horseman  of  his  age,  and  the  most  magnifi 
cent  figure  that  could  be  seen  on  horseback." 

The  fox  that  was  generally  hunted  was  the  gray 
fox,  which  was  indigenous  to  the  country.  After  the 
Revolution  the  red  fox  began  to  be  seen  occasionally. 
They  are  supposed  to  have  come  from  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  to  have  crossed  Chesapeake  Bay  on  the 
ice  in  the  hard  winter  of  1779-80.  Custis  tells  of  a 
famous  black  fox  that  would  go  ten  or  twenty  miles 
before  the  hounds  and  return  to  the  starting-point 
ready  for  another  run  next  day.  After  many  unsuc 
cessful  chases  Billy  recommended  that  the  black  rey- 


262     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

nard  be  let  alone,  saying  he  was  near  akin  to  an 
other  sable  and  wily  character.  Thereafter  the 
huntsman  was  always  careful  to  throw  off  the 
hounds  when  he  suspected  that  they  were  on  the 
trail  of  the  black  fox.  This  story  may  or  may  net 
be  true;  all  that  I  can  say  is  that  I  have  found  n:> 
confirmation  of  it  in  Washington's  own  writings. 

Neither  have  I  found  there  any  confirmation  of 
the  story  that  Mrs.  Washington  and  other  ladies 
often  rode  out  to  see  the  hunts.  Washington  had 
avenues  cut  through  some  of  his  woods  to  facilitate 
the  sport  and  possibly  to  make  the  riding  easier  for 
the.  ladies.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  I  incline  to  the 
opinion  that  generally  at  least  Martha  stayed  at 
home  visiting  with  lady  friends,  attending  to  domes 
tic  concerns  and  superintending  the  preparation  of 
delectable  dishes  for  the  hungry  hunters,  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  she  would  have  enjoyed  seeing 
a  fox  killed. 

The  French  hounds  were,  at  least  at  first,  rather 
indifferent  hunters.  "Went  out  after  Breakfast  with 
my  hounds  from  France,  &  two  which  were  lent  me, 
yesterday,  by  Mr.  Mason,"  says  the  Farmer  the  day 
of  the  first  trial;  "found  a  Fox  which  was  run  toler 
ably  well  by  two  of  the  Frh.  Bitches  &  one  of  Ma- 


A    FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       263 

son's  Dogs — the  other  French  dogs  shewed  but  little 
disposition  to  follow — and  with  the  second  Dog  of 
Mason's  got  upon  another  Fox  which  was  followed 
slow  and  indifferently  by  some  &  not  at  all  by  the 
rest  until  the  sent  became  so  cold  it  cd.  not  be  fol 
lowed  at  all." 

Two  days  later  the  dogs  failed  again  and  the  next 
time  they  ran  two  foxes  and  caught  neither,  but  their 
master  thought  they  performed  better  than  hitherto. 
December  12th: 

"After  an  early  breakfast  [my  nephew]  George 
Washington,  Mr.  Shaw  and  Myself  went  into  the 
Woods  back  of  the  Muddy  hole  Plantation  a  hunt 
ing  and  were  joined  by  Mr.  Lund  Washington  and 
Mr.  William  Peake.  About  half  after  ten  Oclock 
(being  first  plagued  with  the  Dogs  running  Hogs) 
we  found  a  fox  near  Colo  Masons  Plantation  on 
little  Hunting  Creek  (West  fork)  having  followed 
on  his  Drag  more  than  half  a  Mile;  and  run  him 
with  Eight  Dogs  (the  other  4  getting,  as  was  sup 
posed  after  a  Second  Fox)  close  and  well  for  an 
hour.  When  the  Dogs  came  to  a  fault  and  to  cold 
Hunting  until  20  minutes  after  when  being  joined 
by  the  missing  Dogs  they  put  him  up  afresh  and  in 
about  50  Minutes  killed  up  in  an  open  field  of  Colo 


264     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

Mason's  every  Rider  &  every  Dog  being  present  at 
the  Death." 

Eight  days  later  the  pack  chased  two  foxes,  but 
caught  neither.  The  next  hunt  is  described  as  fol 
lows: 

"Went  a  Fox  hunting  with  the  Gentlemen  who 
came  here  yesterday  with  Ferdinando  Washington 
and  Mr.  Shaw,  after  a  very  early  breakfast. — found 
a  Fox  just  back  of  Muddy  hole  Plantation  and  after 
a  Chase  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter  with  my  Dogs,  & 
eight  couple  of  Doctor  Smiths  (brought  by  Mr.  Phil 
Alexander)  we  put  him  into  a  hollow  tree,  in  which 
we  fastened  him,  and  in  the  Pincushion  put  up  an 
other  Fox  which,  in  an  hour  and  13  Minutes  was 
killed —  We  then  after  allowing  the  Fox  in  the  hole 
half  an  hour  put  the  Dogs  upon  his  Trail  &  in  half 
a  Mile  he  took  to  another  hollow  tree  and  was  again 
put  out  of  it  but  he  did  not  go  600  yards  before  he 
had  recourse  to  the  same  shift —  finding  therefore 
that  he  was  a  conquered  Fox  we  took  the  Dogs  off, 
and  came  home  to  dinner." 

Custis  asserts  that  Washington  took  his  last  hunt 
in  1785,  but  in  the  diary  under  date  of  December 
22,  1787,  I  find  that  he  went  out  with  Major  George 
A.  Washington  and  others  on  that  day,  but  found 


A   FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       265 

nothing,  and  that  he  took  still  another  hunt  in  Janu 
ary,  1788,  and  chased  a  fox  that  had  been  captured 
the  previous  month.  This,  however,  is  the  last  refer 
ence  that  I  have  discovered.  No  doubt  he  was  less 
resilient  than  in  his  younger  days  and  found  the 
sport  less  delightful  than  of  yore,  while  the  duties  of 
the  presidency,  to  which  he  was  soon  called,  left  him 
little  leisure  for  sport.  He  seems  to  have  broken  up 
his  kennels  and  to  have  given  away  most  or  all  of  his 
hounds. 

Later  he  acquired  a  pair  of  "tarriers"  and  took 
enough  interest  in  them  to  write  detailed  instruc 
tions  concerning  them  in  1796. 

Washington's  fishing  was  mostly  done  with  a  seine 
as  a  commercial  proposition,  but  he  seems  to  have 
had  a  mild  interest  in  angling.  Occasionally  he  took 
trips  up  and  down  the  Potomac  in  order  to  fish, 
sometimes  with  a  hook  and  line,  at  other  times  with 
seines  and  nets.  He  and  Doctor  Craik  took  fishing 
tackle  with  them  on  both  their  western  tours  and 
made  use  of  it  in  some  of  the  mountain  streams  and 
also  in  the  Ohio.  While  at  the  Federal  Convention 
in  1787  he  and  Gouverneur  Morris  went  up  to  Val 
ley  Forge  partly  perhaps  to  see  the  old  camp,  but 
ostensibly  to  fish  for  trout.  They  lodged  at  the  home 


266     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

of  a  widow  named  Moore.  On  the  trip  the  Farmer 
learned  the  Pennsylvania  way  of  raising  buckwheat 
and,  it  must  be  confessed,  wrote  down  much  more 
about  this  topic  than  about  trout.  A  few  days  later, 
with  Gouverneur  Morris  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert 
Morris,  he  went  up  to  Trenton  and  "in  the  evening 
fished,"  with  what  success  he  does  not  relate.  When 
on  his  eastern  tour  of  1789  he  went  outside  the  har 
bor  of  Portsmouth  to  fish  for  cod,  but  the  tide  was 
unfavorable  and  they  caught  only  two.  More  for 
tunate  was  a  trip  off  Sandy  Hook  the  next  year, 
which  was  thus  described  by  a  newspaper : 

"Yesterday  afternoon  the  President  of  the  United 
States  returned  from  Sandy  Hook  and  the  fishing 
banks,  where  he  had  been  for  the  benefit  of  the  sea 
air,  and  to  amuse  himself  in  the  delightful  recreation 
of  fishing.  We  are  told  he  has  had  excellent  sport, 
having  himself  caught  a  great  number  of  sea-bass 
and  black  fish —  the  weather  proved  remarkably  fine, 
wThich,  together  with  the  salubrity  of  the  air  and 
wholesome  exercise,  rendered  this  little  voyage  ex 
tremely  agreeable." 

Our  Farmer  was  extremely  fond  of  fish  as  an  ar 
ticle  of  diet  and  took  great  pains  to  have  them  on 
his  table  frequently.  At  Mount  Vernon  there  was 


A   FARMER'S   AMUSEMENTS       267 

an  ancient  black  man,  reputed  to  be  a  centenarian 
and  the  son  of  an  African  King,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  keep  the  household  supplied  with  fish.  On  many 
a  morning  he  could  be  seen  out  on  the  river  in  his 
skiff,  beguiling  the  toothsome  perch,  bass  or  rock- 
fish.  Not  infrequently  he  would  fall  asleep  and  then 
the  impatient  cook,  who  had  orders  to  have  dinner 
strictly  upon  the  hour,  would  be  compelled  to  seek 
the  shore  and  roar  at  him.  Old  Jack  would  waken 
and  upon  rowing  to  shore  would  inquire  angrily: 
"What  you  all  mek  such  a  debbil  of  a  racket  for 
hey?  I  wa'nt  asleep,  only  noddin'." 

Another  colored  factotum  about  the  place  was 
known  as  Tom  Davis,  whose  duty  it  was  to  supply 
the  Mansion  House  with  game.  With  the  aid  of  his 
old  British  musket  and  of  his  Newfoundland  dog 
"Gunner"  he  secured  many  a  canvasback  and  mal 
lard,  to  say  nothing  of  quails,  turkeys  and  other 
game. 

After  the  Revolution  Washington  formed  a  deer 
park  below  the  hill  on  which  the  Mansion  House 
stands.  The  park  contained  about  one  hundred  acres 
and  was  surrounded  by  a  high  paling  about  sixteen 
hundred  yards  long.  At  first  he  had  only  Virginia 
deer,  but  later  acquired  some  English  fallow  deer 


268    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

from  the  park  of  Governor  Ogle  of  Maryland.  Both 
varieties  herded  together,  but  never  mixed  blood. 
The  deer  were  continually  getting  out  and  in  Feb 
ruary,  1786,  one  returned  with  a  broken  leg,  "sup 
posed  to  be  by  a  shot."  Seven  years  later  an  English 
buck  that  had  broken  out  weeks  before  was  killed  by 
some  one.  The  paddock  fence  was  neglected  and 
ultimately  the  deer  ran  half  wild  over  the  estate,  but 
in  general  stayed  in  the  wooded  region  surrounding 
the  Mansion  House.  The  gardener  frequently  com 
plained  of  damage  done  by  them  to  shrubs  and 
plants,  and  Washington  said  he  hardly  knew 
"whether  to  give  up  the  Shrubs  or  the  Deer !"  The 
spring  before  his  death  we  find  him  writing  to  the 
brothers  Chickesters  warning  them  to  cease  hunting 
his  deer  and  he  hints  that  he  may  come  to  "the  dis 
agreeable  necessity  of  resorting  to  other  means." 

George  Washington  Custis,  being  like  his  father 
"Jacky"  an  enthusiastic  hunter,  long  teased  the  Gen 
eral  to  permit  him  to  hunt  the  deer  and  at  last  won 
consent  to  shoot  one  buck.  The  lad  accordingly 
loaded  an  old  British  musket  with  two  ounce-balls, 
sallied  forth  and  wounded  one  of  the  patriarchs  of 
the  herd,  which  was  then  chased  into  the  Potomac 
and  there  slain.  Next  day  the  buck  was  served  up 


A   FARMER'S    AMUSEMENTS       269 

to  several  guests,  and  Custis  long  afterward  treas 
ured  the  antlers  at  Arlington  House,  the  residence 
he  later  built  across  the  Potomac  from  the  Federal 
City. 

Upon  the  whole  we  must  conclude  that  Washing 
ton  was  one  of  the  best  sportsmen  of  all  our  Presi 
dents.  He  was  not  so  much  of  an  Izaak  Walton  as 
was  one  of  his  successors,  nor  did  he  pursue  the  lion 
and  festive  bongo  to  their  African  lairs  as  did  an 
other,  but  he  had  a  keen  love  of  nature  and  the  open 
country  and  would  have  found  both  the  Mighty 
Hunter  and  the  Mighty  Angler  kindred  spirits. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  CRITICAL  VISITOR  AT  MOUNT  VERNON 

A  OUT  thirty  miles  down  the  river  Potomac,  a 
gentleman,  of  the  name  of  Grimes,  came  up 
to  us  in  his  own  boat.*  He  had  some  little  time  be- 


*  This  chapter  is  taken  from  A  Tour  of  America  in  1798, 
1799,  and  1800,  by  Richard  Parkinson,  who  has  already  been 
several  times  quoted.  Parkinson  had  won  something  of  a  name 
in  England  as  a  scientific  agriculturist  and  had  published  a 
book  called  the  Experienced  Farmer.  He  negotiated  by  letter 
with  Washington  for  the  rental  of  one  of  the  Mount  Vernon 
farms,  and  in  1798,  without  having  made  any  definite  engage 
ment,  sailed  for  the  Potomac  with  a  cargo  of  good  horses, 
cattle  and  hogs.  His  plan  for  renting  Washington's  farm  fell 
through,  by  his  account  because  it  was  so  poor,  and  ultimately 
he  settled  for  a  time  near  Baltimore,  where  he  underwent  such 
experiences  as  an  opinionated  Englishman  with  new  methods 
would  be  likely  to  meet.  Soured  by  failure,  he  returned  to 
England,  and  published  an  account  of  his  travels,  partly  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  discouraging  emigration  to  America. 
His  opinion  of  the  country  he  summed  up  thus:  "If  a  man 
should  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  married  a  wife  of  a  ca 
pricious  disposition,  let  him  take  her  to  America,  and  keep  her 
there  three  or  four  years  in  a  country-place  at  some  distance 
from  a  town,  and  afterwards  bring  her  back  to  England;  if 
she  do  not  act  with  propriety,  he  may  be  sure  there  is  no 
remedy."  I  have  rearranged  his  account  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  it  consecutive,  but  otherwise  it  stands  as  originally  pub 
lished. 

270 


A   CRITICAL   VISITOR  271 

fore  shot  a  man  who  was  going  across  his  planta 
tion  ;  and  had  been  tried  for  so  doing,  but  not  pun 
ished.  He  came  aboard,  and  behaved  very  politely 
to  me :  and  it  being  near  dinner  time,  he  would  have 
me  go  ashore  and  dine  with  him :  which  I  did.  He 
gave  me  some  grape-juice  to  drink,  which  he  called 
Port  wine,  and  entertained  me  with  saying  he  made 
it  himself :  it  was  not  to  my  taste  equal  to  our  Port 
in  England,  nor  even  strong  beer ;  but  a  hearty  wel 
come  makes  everything  pleasant,  and  this  he  most 
cheerfully  gave  me.  He  showed  me  his  garden ;  the 
produce  of  which,  he  told  me,  he  sold  at  Alexandria, 
a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  His  garden  wras  in  disor 
der:  and  so  was  everything  else  I  saw  about  the 
place ;  except  a  favourite  stallion,  which  was  in  very 
good  condition —  a  pretty  figure  of  a  horse,  and  of 
proper  size  for  the  road,  about  fifteen  hands  high. 
He  likewise  showed  me  some  other  horses,  brood 
mares  and  foals,  young  colts,  &c.  of  rather  an  use 
ful  kind.  His  cattle  were  small,  but  all  much  better 
than  the  land. 

He  praised  the  soil  very  highly.  I  asked  him  if 
he  was  acquainted  with  the  land  at  Mount  Vernon. 
He  said  he  was;  and  represented  it  to  be  rich  land, 
but  not  so  rich  as  his.  Yet  his  I  thought  very  poor 


272     GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

indeed;  for  it  was  (as  is  termed  in  America)  gullied; 
which  I  call  broken  land.  This  effect  is  produced 
by  the  winter's  frost  and  summer's  rain,  which  cut 
the  land  into  cavities  of  from  ten  feet  wide  and  ten 
'feet  deep  (and  upwards)  in  many  places;  and,  added 
to  this,  here  and  there  a  hole,  which  makes  it  look 
altogether  like  marlpits,  or  stone-quarries,  that  have 
been  carried  away  by  those  hasty  showers  in  the 
summer,  which  no  man  who  has  not  seen  them  in 
this  climate  could  form  any  idea  of  or  believe  pos 
sible.  .  .  . 

In  two  days  after  we  left  this  place,  we  came  in 
sight  of  Mount  Vernon;  but  in  all  the  way  up  the 
river,  I  did  not  see  any  green  fields.  The  country 
had  to  me  a  most  barren  appearance.  There  were 
none  but  snake-fences ;  which  are  rails  laid  with  the 
ends  of  one  upon  another,  from  eight  to  sixteen  in 
number  in  one  length.  The  surface  of  the  earth 
looked  like  a  yellow-washed  wall ;  for  it  had  been  a 
very  dry  summer ;  and  there  was  not  any  thing  that  I 
could  see  green,  except  the  pine  trees  in  the  woods, 
and  the  cedars,  which  made  a  truly  picturesque  view 
as  we  sailed  up  the  Potomac.  It  is  indeed  a  most 
beautiful  river. 

When  we  arrived  at  Mount  Vernon,  I  found  that 


A   CRITICAL   VISITOR  273 

General  Washington  was  at  Philadelphia;  but  his 
steward*  had  orders  from  the  General  to  receive  me 
and  my  family,  with  all  the  horses,  cattle,  &c.  which 
I  had  on  board.  A  boat  was,  therefore,  got  ready  for 
landing  them ;  but  that  could  not  be  done,  as  the  ship 
must  be  cleared  Out  at  some  port  before  anything 
was  moved :  so,  after  looking  about  a  few  minutes 
at  Mount  Vernon,  I  returned  to  the  ship,  and  we  be 
gan  to  make  way  for  Alexandria.  ... 

When  I  had  been  about  seven  days  at  Alexandria, 
I  hired  a  horse  and  went  to  Mount  Vernon,  to  view 
my  intended  farm;  of  which  General  Washington 
had  given  me  a  plan,  and  a  report  along  with  it — 
the  rent  being  fixed  at  eighteen  hundred  bushels  of 
wheat  for  twelve  hundred  acres,  or  money  according 
to  the  price  of  that  grain.  I  must  confess  that  if  he 
would  have  given  me  the  inheritance  of  the  land  for 
that  sum,  I  durst  not  have  accepted  it,  especially 
with  the  incumbrances  upon  it;  viz.  one  hundred 
seventy  slaves  young  and  old,  and  out  of  that  num 
ber  only  twenty-sevenf  in  a  condition  to  work,  as  the 
steward  represented  to  me.  I  viewed  the  whole  of 
the  cultivated  estate — about  three  thousand  acres; 


*  No  doubt  Anderson,  Washington's  last  manager, 
t  Most  certainly  a  mistake. 


274    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

and  afterward  dined  with  Mrs.  Washington  and  the 
family.  Here  I  met  a  Doctor  Thornton,  who  is  a 
very  pleasant  agreeable  man,  and  his  lady;  with  a 
Mr.  Peters  and  his  lady,  who  was  a  grand-daughter 
of  Mrs.  Washington.  Doctor  Thornton  living  at  the 
city  of  Washington,  he  gave  me  an  invitation  to  visit 
him  there:  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
city. 

I  slept  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  experienced  a  very 
kind  and  comfortable  reception;  but  did  not  like  the 
land  at  all.  I  saw  no  green  grass  there,  except  in  the 
garden :  and  this  was  some  English  grass,  appearing 
to  me  to  be  a  sort  of  couch-grass;  it  was  in  drills. 
There  were  also  six  saint foin  plants,  which  I  found 
the  General  valued  highly.  I  viewed  the  oats  which 
were  not  thrashed,  and  counted  the  grains  upon  each 
head ;  but  found  no  stem  with  more  than  four  grains, 
and  these  a  very  light  and  bad  quality,  such  as  I  had 
never  seen  before :  the  longest  straw  was  of  about 
twelve  inches.  The  wheat  was  all  thrashed,  there 
fore  I  could  not  ascertain  the  produce  of  that :  I  saw7 
some  of  the  straw,  however,  and  thought  it  had  been 
cut  and  prepared  for  the  cattle  in  the  winter;  but  I 
believe  I  was  mistaken,  it  being  short  by  nature,  and 
with  thrashing  out  looked  like  chaff,  or  as  if  chopped 


A   CRITICAL   VISITOR  275 

with  a  bad  knife.  The  General  had  two  thrashing 
machines,  the  power  given  by  horses.  The  clover 
was  very  little  in  bulk,  and  like  chaff ;  not  more  than 
nine  inches  long,  and  the  leaf  very  much  shed  from 
the  stalk.  By  the  stubbles  on  the  land  I  could  not  tell 
which  had  been  wheat,  or  which  had  been  oats  or 
barley;  nor  could  I  see  any  clover-roots  where  the 
clover  had  grown.  The  weather  was  hot  and  dry 
at  that  time;  it  was  in  December.  The  whole  of  the 
different  fields  were  covered  with  either  the  stalks  of 
weeds,  corn-stalks,  or  what  is  called  sedge — some 
thing  like  spear-grass  upon  the  poor  limestone  in 
England ;  and  the  steward  told  me  nothing  would  eat 
it,  which  is  true.  Indeed,  he  found  fault  with  every 
thing,  just  like  a  foreigner ;  and  even  told  me  many 
unpleasant  tales  of  the  General,  so  that  I  began  to 
think  he  feared  I  was  coming  to  take  his  place.  But 
(God  knows!)  I  would  not  choose  to  accept  of  it: 
for  he  had  to  superintend  four  hundred  slaves,  and 
there  would  be  more  now.  This  part  of  his  business 
especially  would  have  been  painful  to  me;  it  is,  in 
fact,  a  sort  of  trade  of  itself. 

I  had  not  in  all  this  time  seen  what  we  in  England 
call  a  corn-stack,  nor  a  dung-hill.  There  were,  in 
deed,  behind  the  General's  barns,  two  or  three  cocks 


276    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

of  oats  and  barley;  but  such  as  an  English  broad- 
wheeled  waggon  would  have  carried  a  hundred  miles 
at  one  time  with  ease.  Neither  had  I  seen  a  green 
plant  of  any  kind :  there  was  some  clover  of  the  first 
year's  sowing :  but  in  riding  over  the  fields  I  should 
not  have  known  it  to  be  clover,  although  the  steward 
told  me  it  was;  only  when  I  came  under  a  tree  I 
could,  by  favour  of  the  shade,  perceive  here  and 
there  a  green  leaf  of  clover,  but  I  do  not  remember 
seeing  a  green  root.  I  was  shown  no  grass-hay  of 
any  kind;  nor  do  I  believe  there  was  any. 

The  cattle  were  very  poor  and  ordinary,  and  the 
sheep  the  same ;  nor  did  I  see  any  thing  I  liked  ex 
cept  the  mules,  which  were  very  fine  ones,  and  in 
good  condition.  Mr.  Gough  had  made  a  present  to 
General  Washington  of  a  bull  calf.  The  animal  was 
shown  to  me  when  I  first  landed  at  Mount  Vernon, 
and  was  the  first  bull  I  saw  in  the  country.  He  was 
large,  and  very  strong- featured ;  the  largest  part  was 
his  head,  the  next  his  legs.  The  General's  steward 
was  a  Scotchman,  and  no  judge  of  animals — a  bet 
ter  judge  of  distilling  whiskey. 

I  saw  here  a  greater  number  of  negroes  than  I 
ever  saw  at  one  time,  either  before  or  since. 

The  house  is  a  very  decent  mansion:  not  large, 


A   CRITICAL   VISITOR  277 

and  something  like  a  gentleman's  house  in  England, 
with  gardens  and  plantations;  and  is  very  prettily 
situated  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Potowmac,  with 
extensive  prospects.  ...  The  roads  are  very  bad 
from  Alexandria  to  Mount  Vernon. 

The  General  still  continuing  at  Philadelphia,  I 
could  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him;  therefore 
I  returned  to  Alexandria. 

I  returned  [to  Mount  Vernon  some  weeks  later] 
.  .  .  to  see  General  Washington.  I  dined  with 
him;  and  he  showed  me  several  presents  that  had 
been  sent  him,  viz.  swords,  china,  and  among  the 
rest  the  key  of  the  Bastille.  I  spent  a  very  pleasant 
day  in  the  house,  as  the  weather  was  so  severe  that 
there  were  no  farming  objects  to  see,  the  ground 
being  covered  with  snow. 

Would  General  Washington  have  given  me  the 
twelve  hundred  acres  I  would  not  have  accepted  it, 
to  have  been  confined  to  live  in  that  country ;  and  to 
convince  the  General  of  the  cause  of  my  determina 
tion,  I  was  compelled  to  treat  him  with  a  great  deal 
of  frankness.  The  General,  who  had  corresponded 
with  Mr.  Arthur  Young  and  others  on  the  subject 
of  English  farming  and  soils,  and  had  been  not  a 
little  flattered  by  different  gentlemen  from  England, 


278     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

seemed  at  first  to  be  not  well  pleased  with  my  con 
versation;  but  I  gave  him  some  strong  proofs  of  his 
mistakes,  by  making  a  comparison  between  the  lands 
in  America  and  those  of  England  in  two  respects. 
First,  in  the  article  of  sheep.  He  supposed  himself 
to  have  fine  sheep,  and  a  great  quantity  of  them.  At 
the  time  of  my  viewing  his  five  farms,  which  con 
sisted  of  about  three  thousand  acres  cultivated,  he 
had  one  hundred  sheep,  and  those  in  very  poor  con 
dition.  This  was  in  tlje  month  of  November.  To 
show  him  his  mistake  in  the  value  and  quality  of  his 
land,  I  compared  this  with  the  farm  my  father  oc 
cupied,  which  was  less  than  six  hundred  acres.  He 
clipped  eleven  hundred  sheep,  though  some  of  his 
land  was  poor  and  at  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per 
acre — the  highest  was  at  twenty  shillings ;  the  aver 
age  weight  of  the  wool  was  ten  pounds  per  fleece, 
and  the  carcases  weighed  from  eighty  to  one  hun 
dred  twenty  pounds  each :  while  in  the  General's 
hundred  sheep  on  three  thousand  acres,  the  wool 
would  not  weigh  on  an  average  more  than  three 
pounds  and  a  half  the  fleece,  and  the  carcases  at 
forty-eight  pounds  each.  Secondly,  the  proportion 
of  the  produce  in  grain  was  similar.  The  General's 


A   CRITICAL   VISITOR  279 

crops  were  from  two  to  three*  bushels  of  wheat  per 
acre ;  and  my  father's  farm,  although  poor  clay  soil, 
gave  from  twenty  to  thirty  bushels. 

During  this  conversation  Colonel  Lear,  aide-de 
camp  to  the  General,  was  present.  When  the  Gen 
eral  left  the  room,  the  Colonel  told  me  he  had  him 
self  been  in  England,  and  had  seen  Arthur  Young 
(who  had  been  frequently  named  by  the  General  in 
our  conversation)  ;  and  that  Mr.  Young  having 
learnt  that  he  was  in  the  mercantile  line,  and  was 
possessed  of  much  land,  had  said  he  thought  he  was 
a  great  fool  to  be  a  merchant  and  yet  have  so  much 
land :  the  Colonel  replied,  that  if  Mr.  Young  had 
the  same  land  to  cultivate,  it  would  make  a  great  fool 
of  him.  The  Colonel  did  me  the  honour  to  say  I  was 
the  only  man  he  ever  knew  to  treat  General  Wash 
ington  with  frankness. 

The  General's  cattle  at  that  time  were  all  in  poor 
condition:  except  his  mules  (bred  from  American 
mares),  which  were  very  fine,  and  the  Spanish  ass 
sent  to  him  as  a  present  by  the  king  of  Spain.  I  felt 
myself  much  vexed  at  an  expression  used  at  dinner 
by  Mrs.  Washington.  When  the  General  and  the 

*  A  misstatement,  of  course. 


280    GEORGE    WASHINGTON— FARMER 

company  at  table  were  talking  about  the  fine  horses 
and  cattle  I  had  brought  from  England,  Mrs.  Wash 
ington  said,  "I  am  afraid,  Mr.  Parkinson,  you  have 
brought  your  fine  horses  and  cattle  to  a  bad  mar 
ket;  I  am  of  opinion  that  our  horses  and  cattle  are 
good  enough  for  our  land."  I  thought  that  if  every 
old  woman  in  the  country  knew  this,  my  speculation 
would  answer  very  ill:  as  I  perfectly  agreed  with 
Mrs.  Washington  in  sentiment;  and  wondered 
much,  from  the  poverty  of  the  land,  to  see  the  cat 
tle  good  as  they  were. 

The  General  wished  me  to  stay  all  night ;  but  hav 
ing  some  other  engagement,  I  declined  his  kind  of 
fer.  He  sent  Colonel  Lear  out  after  I  had  parted 
with  him,  to  ask  me  if  I  wanted  any  money;  which 
I  gladly  accepted. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

PROFIT  AND  LOSS 

A  BIOGRAPHER  whose  opinions  about  Wash 
ington  are  usually  sound  concludes  that  the 
General  was  a  failure  as  a  farmer.  With  this  opin 
ion  I  am  unable  to  agree  and  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  in  forming  it  he  had  in  mind  temporary  finan 
cial  stringencies  and  perhaps  a  comparison  between 
Washington  and  the  scientific  farmers  of  to-day  in 
stead  of  the  juster  comparison  writh  the  farmers  of 
that  day.  For  if  Washington  was  a  failure,  then 
nine-tenths  of  the  Southern  planters  of  his  day  were 
also  failures,  for  their  methods  and  results  were 
much  worse  than  his. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  comparatively 
little  of  his  fortune,  which  amounted  at  his  death  to 
perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars,  was  made 
by  the  sale  of  products  from  his  farm.  Few  farmers 
have  grown  rich  in  that  way.  Washington's  wealth 
was  due  in  part  to  inheritance  and  a  fortunate  mar- 

281 


282    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

riage,  but  most  of  all  to  the  increment  on  land.  Part 
of  this  land  he  received  as  a  reward  for  military 
services,  but  much  of  it  he  was  shrewd  enough  to 
buy  at  a  low  rate  and  hold  until  it  became  more  val 
uable. 

The  task  of  analyzing  his  fortune  and  income  in 
detail  is  an  impossible  one  for  a  number  of  reasons. 
We  do  not  have  all  the  facts  of  his  financial  opera 
tions  and  even  if  we  had  there  are  other  difficulties. 
A  farmer,  unlike  a  salaried  man,  can  not  tell  with 
any  exactness  what  his  true  income  is.  The  salaried 
man  can  say,  "This  year  I  received  four  thousand 
dollars."  The  farmer  can  only  say — if  he  is  the  one 
in  a  hundred  who  keeps  accounts — "Last  year  I  took 
in  two  thousand  dollars  or  five  thousand  dollars,"  as 
the  case  may  be.  From  this  sum  he  must  deduct 
expenses  for  labor,  wear  and  tear  of  farm  ma 
chinery,  pro  rata  cost  of  new  tools  and  machinery, 
loss  of  soil  fertility,  must  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  some  of  the  stock  sold  has  been  growing 
for  one,  two  or  more  years,  must  allow  for  the  but 
ter  and  eggs  bartered  for  groceries  and  for  the  value 
of  the  two  cows  he  traded  for  a  horse,  must  add  the 
value  of  the  rent  of  the  house  and  grounds  he  and 
his  family  have  enjoyed,  the  value  of  the  chickens, 


PROFIT   AND    LOSS  283 

eggs,  vegetables,  fruit,  milk,  meat  and  other  produce 
of  the  farm  consumed — as  he  proceeds  the  problem 
becomes  infinitely  more  complex  until  at  last  he  gives 
it  up  as  hopeless. 

This  much,  however,  is  plain — a  farmer  can 
handle  much  less  money  than  a  salaried  man  and  yet 
live  infinitely  better,  for  his  rent,  much  of  his,  food 
and  many  other  things  cost  him  nothing. 

In  Washington's  case  the  problem  is  further  com 
plicated  by  a  number  of  circumstances.  As  a  result 
of  his  marriage  he  had  some  money  upon  bond.  For 
his  military  services  in  the  French  war  he  received 
large  grants  of  land  and  the  payment  during  the 
Revolution  of  his  personal  expenses,  and  as  Presi 
dent  he  had  a  salary  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
a  year. 

Yet  another  difficulty  discloses  itself  when  we 
come  to  examine  his  cash  accounts.  We  find,  for  ex 
ample,  that  from  August  3,  1775,  to  September, 
1783,  leaving  out  of  the  reckoning  his  military  re 
ceipts,  he  took  in  a  total  of  about  eighty  thousand  one 
hundred  sixty-seven  pounds.  What  then  more  simple 
than  to  divide  this  sum  by  seven  and  ascertain  his 
average  receipts  during  the  years  of  the  Revolution? 
But  when  we  come  to  examine  some  of  the  details 


284    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

more  closely  we  are  brought  to  pause.  We  discover 
such  facts  as  that  in  1780  a  small  steer,  supposed 
to  weigh  about  three  hundred  pounds,  brought  five 
hundred  pounds  in  money!  A  sheep  sold  for  one 
hundred  pounds;  six  thousand  five  hundred  sixty- 
nine  pounds  of  dressed  beef  brought  six  thousand 
five  hundred  sixty-nine  pounds;  the  stud  fee  for 
"Steady"  was  sixty  pounds.  In  other  words,  the 
accounts  in  these  years  were  in  depreciated  pa 
per  and  utterly  worthless  for  our  purposes.  Wash 
ington  himself  gave  the  puzzle  up  in  despair  toward 
the  end  of  the  war  and  paid  his  manager  in  produce, 
not  money. 

We  of  to-day  have,  in  fact,  not  the  faintest  concep 
tion  of  the  blessing  we  enjoy  in  a  uniform  and  fairly 
stable  monetary  system.  Even  before  the  days  of  the 
"Continentals"  there  was  depreciated  paper  afloat 
that  had  been  issued  by  the  colonial  governments 
and,  unless  the  fact  is  definitely  stated,  when  we 
come  upon  figures  of  that  period  we  can  never  be 
sure  whether  they  refer  to  pounds  sterling  or  pounds 
paper,  or,  if  the  latter,  what  kind  of  paper.  People 
had  to  be  constantly  figuring  the  real  value  of  Penn 
sylvania  money,  or  Virginia  money  or  Massachu 
setts  money,  and  one  meets  with  many  such  calcula- 


PROFIT   AND    LOSS  285 

tions  on  the  blank  leaves  of  Washington's  account 
books.  Even  metallic  money  was  a  Chinese  puzzle 
except  to  the  initiated,  there  were  so  many  kinds  of 
it  afloat.  Among  our  Farmer's  papers  I  have  found 
a  list  of  the  money  that  he  took  with  him  to  Phila 
delphia  on  one  occasion — 6  joes,  67  half  joes,  2  one- 
eighteenth  joes,  3  doubloons,  1  pistole,  2  moidores, 
1  half  moidore,  2  double  louis  d'or,  3  single  louis 
d'or,  80  guineas,  7  half  guineas,  besides  silver  and 
bank-notes. 

The  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency  during 
the  Revolution  proved  disastrous  to  him  in  several 
ways.  When  the  war  broke  out  much  of  the  money 
he  had  obtained  by  marriage  was  loaned  out  on 
bond,  or,  as  we  would  say  to-day,  on  mortgage.  "I 
am  now  receiving,"  he  soon  wrote,  "a  shilling  in  the 
pound  in  discharge  of  Bonds  which  ought  to  have 
been  paid  me,  &  would  have  been  realized  before  I 
left  Virginia,  but  for  my  indulgences  to  the  debt 
ors."  In  1778  he  said  that  six  or  seven  thousand 
pounds  that  he  had  in  bonds  upon  interest  had  been 
paid  in  depreciated  paper,  so  that  the  real  value  was 
now  reduced  to  as  many  hundreds.  Some  of  the 
paper  money  that  came  into  his  hands  he  invested 
in  government  securities,  and  at  least  ten  thousand 


286    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

pounds  of  these  in  Virginia  money  were  ultimately 
funded  by  the  federal  government  for  six  thousand 
two  hundred  and  forty-six  dollars  in  three  and  six 
per  cent,  bonds. 

And  yet,  by  examining  Washington's  accounts, 
one  is  able  to  estimate  in  a  rough  way  the  returns 
he  received  from  his  estate,  landed  and  otherwise. 
We  find  that  in  ten  months  of  1759  he  took  in 
£1,839;  from  January  1,  1760,  to  January  10,  1761, 
about  £2,535;  in  1772,  £3,213;  from  August  3, 
1775,  to  August  30,  1776,  £2,119;  in  1786,  £2,025; 
in  1791,  about  £2,025.  Included  in  some  of  these 
entries,  particularly  the  earlier  ones,  are  payments 
of  interest  and  principal  on  his  wife's  share  of  the 
Custis  estate.  Of  the  later  ones,  that  for  1786 — a 
bad  farming  year — includes  rentals  on  more  than  a 
score  of  parcels  of  land  amounting  to  £282.15,  £25 
rental  on  his  fishery,  payments  for  flour,  stud  fees, 
etc. 

Upon  the  average,  therefore,  I  am  inclined  to  be 
lieve  that  his  annual  receipts  were  roughly  in  the 
neighborhood  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  a  year  from  his  estate. 

As  regards  Mount  Vernon  alone,  he  sometimes 
made  estimates  of  what  the  crop  returns  ought  to 


1772 


^   J 


^      / 


/ 


.^£404.4 


PROFIT   AND    LOSS  287 

be;  in  other  words,  counted  his  chickens  before  they 
were  hatched.  Thus  in  1789  he  drew  up  alternative 
plans  and  estimated  that  one  of  these,  if  adopted, 
ought  to  produce  crops  worth  a  gross  of  £3,091,  an 
other  £3,831,  and  a  third  £4,449,  but  that  from  these 
sums  £1,357,  £1,394  and  £1,445  respectively  would 
have  to  be  deducted  for  seed,  food  for  man  and 
beasts,  and  other  expenses. 

A  much  better  idea  of  the  financial  returns  from 
his  home  estate  can  be  obtained  from  his  actual  bal 
ances  of  gain  and  loss.  One  of  these,  namely  for 
1 798,  which  was  a  poor  year,  was  as  follows : 

BALANCE  OF  GAIN  AND  LOSS,  1798 

DR.  GAINED  CR.  LOST 

Dogue  Run  Farm  397.11.2  Mansion  House..  466.18.  2*4 

Union  Farm S29.10.llj4      Muddy  Hole  Farm    60.  1.  3^ 

River  Farm 234.  4.11          Spinning 51.  2.  0 

Smith's  Shop  ....     34.12.09^      Hire    of    Head 

Distillery 83.13.  1  overseer 140.  0.  0 

Jacks   56.1 

Traveler  9.17 

(stud  horse) 

Shoemaker 28.17.  1 

Fishery  165.12.  0^4      By  clear  gain  on 

Dairy 30.12.  3  the  Estate £898.16.  V/4 

Mr.  Paul  Leicester  Ford  considered  this  "a  pretty 
poor  showing  for  an  estate  and  negroes  which  had 
certainly  cost  him  over  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 


288    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

on  which  there  was  live  stock  which  at  the  lowest 
estimation  was  worth  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
more."  In  some  respects  it  was  a  poor  showing. 
Yet  the  profit  Washington  sets  down  is  about  seven 
per  cent,  upon  sixty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  seven 
per  cent,  is  more  than  the  average  farmer  makes  off 
his  farm  to-day  except  through  the  appreciation  in 
the  value  of  the  land.  The  truth  is,  however,  that 
Mount  Vernon,  including  the  live  stock  and  slaves, 
was  really  worth  in  1798  nearer  two  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars  than  sixty-five  thousand,  so  that  the 
actual  return  would  only  be  about  two  and  a  fourth 
per  cent. 

But  Washington  failed  to  include  in  his  receipts 
many  items,  such  as  the  use  of  a  fine  mansion  for 
himself  and  family,  the  use  of  horses  and  vehicles, 
and  the  added  value  of  slaves  and  live  stock  by  natu 
ral  increase. 

Besides  in  some  other  years  the  profits  were  much 
larger. 

And  lastly,  in  judging  a  man's  success  or  failure 
as  a  farmer,  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  kind 
of  land  that  he  has  to  farm.  The  Mount  Vernon 
land  was  undoubtedly  poor  in  quality,  and  it  is  prob 
able  that  Washington  got  more  out  of  it  than  has 


PROFIT   AND    LOSS  289 

ever  been  got  out  of  it  by  any  other  person  either 
before  or  since.  Much  of  it  to-day  must  not  pay 
taxes. 

Washington  died  possessed  of  property  worth 
about  three-quarters  of  a  million,  although  he  be 
gan  life  glad  to  earn  a  doubloon  a  day  surveying. 
The  main  sources  of  this  wealth  have  already  been 
indicated,  but  when  all  allowance  is  made  in  these 
respects,  the  fact  remains  that  he  was  compelled  to 
make  a  living  and  to  keep  expenses  paid  during  the 
forty  years  in  which  the  fortune  was  accumulating, 
and  the  main  source  he  drew  from  was  his  farms. 
Not  much  of  that  living  came  from  the  Custis  estate, 
for,  as  we  have  seen,  a  large  part  of  the  money  thus 
acquired  was  lost.  During  his  eight  years  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  he  had  his  expenses — no  more.  Of 
the  eight  years  of  his  presidency  much  the  same  can 
be  said,  for  all  authorities  agree  that  he  expended 
all  of  his  salary  in  maintaining  his  position  and  some 
say  that  he  spent  more.  Yet  at  the  end  of  his  life  we 
find  him  with  much  more  land  than  he  had  in  1760, 
with  valuable  stocks  and  bonds,  a  house  and  furni 
ture  infinitely  superior  to  the  eight-room  house  he 
first  owned,  two  houses  in  the  Federal  City  that  had 
cost  him  about  $15,000,  several  times  as  many  ne- 


290     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

groes,  and  live  stock  estimated  by  himself  at  $15,653 
and  by  his  manager  at  upward  of  twice  that  sum. 

Such  being  the  case — and  as  no  one  has  ever  ven 
tured  even  to  hint  that  he  made  money  corruptly 
out  of  his  official  position — the  conclusion  is  irre 
sistible  that  he  was  a  good  business  man  and  that 
he  made  farming  pay,  particularly  when  he  was  at 
home. 

It  is  true  that  only  three  months  before  his  death 
he  wrote:  "The  expense  at  which  I  live,  and  the 
unproductiveness  of  my  estate,  will  not  allow  me  to 
lessen  my  income  while  I  remain  in  my  present  situa 
tion.  On  the  contrary,  were  it  not  for  occasional 
supplies  of  money  in  payment  for  lands  sold  within 
the  last  four  or  five  years,  to  the  amount  of  upwards 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  I  should  not  be  able  to  sup 
port  the  former  without  involving  myself  in  debt 
and  difficulties."  This  must  be  taken,  however,  to 
apply  to  a  single  period  of  heavy  expense  when  for 
eign  complications  and  other  causes  rendered  farm 
ing  unprofitable,  rather  than  to  his  whole  career. 
Furthermore,  his  landed  investments  from  which  he 
could  draw  no  returns  were  so  heavy  that  he  had 
approached  the  condition  of  being  land  poor  and  it 
was  only  proper  that  he  should  cut  loose  from  some 
of  them. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ODDS    AND    ENDS 

IN  an  age  when  organized  charity  was  almost 
unknown  the  burden  of  such  work  fell  mainly 
upon  individuals.  Being  a  man  of  great  prominence 
and  known  to  be  wealthy,  the  proprietor  of  Mount 
Vernon  was  the  recipient  of  many  requests  for 
assistance.  Ministers  wrote  to  beg  money  to  rebuild 
churches  or  to  convert  the  heathen;  old  soldiers 
wrote  to  ask  for  money  to  relieve  family  distresses 
or  to  use  in  business;  from  all  classes  and  sections 
poured  in  requests  for  aid,  financial  and  otherwise. 
It  was  inevitable  that  among  these  requests  there 
should  be  some  that  were  unusual.  Perhaps  the 
most  amusing  that  I  have  discovered  is  one  written 
by  a  young  man  named  Thomas  BrufT,  from  the 
Fountain  Inn,  Georgetown.  He  states  that  this  is 
his  second  letter,  but  I  have  not  found  the  first. 
In  the  letter  we  have  he  sets  forth  that  he  has 
lost  all  his  property  and  desires  a  loan  of 

291 


292     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

five  hundred  pounds.  His  need  is  urgent,  for 
he  is  engaged  to  a  beautiful  and  "amiable' 
young  lady,  possessed  of  an  "Estate  that  will 
render  me  Independent.  Whom  I  cannot  Marry 
in  my  present  situation.  .  .  .  All  my  Happyness 
is  now  depending  upon  your  Goodness  and  without 
your  kind  assistance  I  must  be  forever  miserable — 
I  should  have  never  thought  of  making  application 
to  you  for  this  favor  had  it  not  been  in  Consequence 
of  a  vision  by  Night  since  my  Fathers  Death  who 
appeared  to  me  in  a  Dream  in  my  Misfortunes  three 
times  in  one  Night  telling  me  to  make  applycation 
to  you  for  Money  and  that  you  would  relieve  me 
from  my  distresses,  he  appeared  the  other  night 
again  and  asked  me  if  I  had  obeyed  his  commands 
I  informed  him  that  I  had  Wrote  to  you  some  time 
ago  but  had  Received  no  answer  nor  no  information 
Relative  to  the  Business  he  then  observed  that  he 
expected  my  letter  had  not  come  to  hand  and  toald 
me  to  Write  again  I  made  some  Objections  at  first 
and  toald  him  I  thought  it  presumption  in  me  to 
trouble  your  Excellency  again  on  the  subject  he 
then  in  a  Rage  drew  his  Small  Sword  and  toald  me 
if  I  did  not  he  would  run  me  through  I  immediately 
in  a  fright  consented." 


ODDS    AND    ENDS  293 

One  might  suppose  that  so  ingenious  a  request, 
picturing  the  deadly  danger  in  which  a  young  man 
stood  from  the  shade  of  his  progenitor,  especially  a 
young  man  who  was  thereby  forced  to  keep  a  young 
lady  waiting,  would  have  aroused  Washington's 
most  generous  impulses  and  caused  him  to  send 
perhaps  double  the  amount  desired.  Possibly  he 
was  hard  up  at  the  time.  At  all  events  he  indorsed 
the  letter  thus : 

"Without  date  and  without  success." 

Many  times,  however,  our  Farmer  was  open- 
handed  to  persons  who  had  no  personal  claim  on 
him.  For  example,  he  loaned  three  hundred  and  two 
pounds  to  his  old  comrade  of  the  French  War — 
Robert  Stewart — the  purpose  being  to  buy  a  com 
mission  in  the  British  army.  So  far  as  I  can  dis 
cover  it  was  never  repaid ;  in  fact,  I  am  not  sure  but 
that  he  intended  it  as  a  gift.  Another  advance  was 
that  made  to  Charles  L.  Carter,  probably  the  young 
man  who  later  married  a  daughter  of  Washington's 
sister,  Betty  Lewis.  Most  of  the  story  is  told  in  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Carter 
from  Fredericksburg,  June  2,  1797: 

"With  diffidence  I  now  address  you  in  conse 
quence  of  having  failed  after  my  first  voyage  from 


294     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

China,  to  return  the  two  hundred  Dollars  you  fa 
vored  me  with  the  Loan  of.  Be  assured  Dr.  Sir 
that  I  left  goods  unsold  at  the  time  of  my  Departure 
from  Philadelphia  on  the  second  voyage,  &  directed 
that  the  money  arising  therefrom  should  be  paid  t3 
you,  but  the  integrity  of  my  agent  did  not  prove  t:> 
be  so  uncorrupted  as  I  had  flattered  myself.  I  have, 
at  this  late  period,  sent  by  Mr.  G.  Tevis  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  Dollars  with  interest  therefrom  fron 
the  15th  of  March  1795  to  the  1st  June,  1797.  That 
sum  has  laid  the  foundation  of  a  pretty  fortune,  for 
which  I  shall  ever  feel  myself  indebted  to  you." 

He  added  that  he  had  been  refused  the  loan  by  a 
near  relation  before  Washington  had  so  kindly 
obliged  him  and  that  his  mother,  who  was  evidently 
acquainted  with  Washington,  joined  in  hearty 
thanks  for  the  benefit  received. 

Washington  had  experienced  enough  instances  of 
ingratitude  to  be  much  pleased  with  the  outcome  of 
this  affair.  He  replied  in  the  kindest  terms,  but 
declined  to  receive  the  interest,  saying  that  he  had 
not  made  the  loan  as  an  investment  and  that  he  did 
not  desire  a  profit  from  it. 

Another  recipient  of  Washington's  bounty  was 
his  old  neighbor,  Captain  John  Posey.  Posey  sold 


ODDS    AND    ENDS  295 

Washington  not  only  his  Ferry  Farm  but  also  his 
claim  to  western  lands.  He  became  financially  em 
barrassed,  in  fact,  ruined ;  his  family  was  scattered, 
and  he  made  frequent  applications  to  Washington 
for  advice  and  assistance.  Washington  helped  to 
educate  a  son,  St.  Lawrence,  who  had  been  reduced 
to  the  hard  expedient  of  tending  bar  in  a  tavern, 
and  he  also  kept  a  daughter,  Milly,  at  Mount  Ver- 
non,  perhaps  as  a  sort  of  companion  to  Mrs.  Wash 
ington.  The  Captain  once  wrote  : 

"I  could  [have]  been  able  to  [have]  Satisfied  all 
my  old  Arrears,  some  months  AGoe,  by  marrying 
[an]  old  widow  woman  in  this  County.  She  has 
large  soms  [of]  cash  by  her,  and  Prittey  good  Est. 
— She  is  as  thick  as  she  is  high — And  gits  drunk 
at  Least  three  or  foure  [times]  a  weak — which  is 
Disagreable  to  me — has  Viliant  Sperrit  when  Drunk 
— its  been  [a]  great  Dispute  in  my  mind  what  to 
Doe, — I  beleave  I  shu'd  Run  all  Resks — if  my  Last 
wife,  had  been  [an]  Even  temper  d  woman,  but  her 
Sperrit.  has  Given  me  such  [a]  Shock — that  I  am 
afraid  to  Run  the  Resk  again." 

Evidently  the  Captain  did  not  find  a  way  out  of 
his  troubles  by  the  matrimonial  route,  for  somewhat 
later  he  was  in  jail  at  Oueenstown,  presumably  for 


296    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

debt,  and  we  find  in  one  of  Washington's  cash  mem 
orandum  books  under  date  of  October  15,  1773: 
"By  Charity — given  Captn.  Posey,"  four  pounds. 
One  of  the  sons  later  settled  in  Indiana,  and  the 
"Pocket"  county  is  named  after  him. 

Another  boy  toward  whose  education  Washing 
ton  contributed  was  the  son  of  Doctor  James  Craik 
— the  boy  being  a  namesake.  Doctor  Craik  was  one 
of  Washington's  oldest  and  dearest  friends.  He 
was  born  in  Scotland  two  years  before  Washington 
saw  the  light  at  Wakefield,  graduated  from  Edin 
burgh  University,  practised  medicine  in  the  West 
Indies  for  a  short  time  and  then  came  to  Virginia. 
He  was  Washington's  comrade  in  arms  in  the  Fort 
Necessity  campaign,  was  subsequently  surgeon  gen 
eral  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  accompanied 
Washington  to  the  Ohio  both  in  1770  and  1784. 
He  married  Mariane  Ewell,  a  relative  of  Wash 
ington's  mother,  and  resided  many  years  in  Alexan 
dria.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Mount  Vernon 
both  as  a  friend  and  in  a  professional  capacity,  and 
Washington  declared  that  he  would  rather  trust  him 
than  a  dozen  other  doctors.  Few  men  were  so  close 
to  the  great  man  as  he,  and  he  was  one  of  the  few 
who  in  his  letters  ventured  to  tell  chatty  matters  of 


ODDS   AND   ENDS  297 

gossip.  Thus,  in  August,  1791,  he  wrote  a  letter 
apropos  of  the  bad  health  of  George  A.  Washington 
and  added:  "My  daughter  Nancy  is  there  [Mt. 
Vernon]  by  way  of  Amusement  awhile.  She  be 
gins  to  be  tired  of  her  Fathers  house  and  I  believe 
intends  taking  an  old  Batchelor  Mr.  Hn.  for  a  mate 
shortly."  Another  young  lady,  Miss  Muir,  who  had 
recently  gone  to  Long  Island  for  the  benefit  of  the 
sea  baths  was  "pursued"  by  a  Mr.  Donaldson  and 
the  latter  now  writes  that  "he  shall  bring  back  a 
wife  with  him."  Craik  was  a  thorough  believer  in 
Washington's  destiny,  and  in  the  dark  days  of  the 
Revolution  would  hearten  up  his  comrades  by  the 
story  of  the  Indian  chieftain  met  upon  the  Ohio  in 
1770  who  had  vainly  tried  to  kill  Washington  in  the 
battle  of  the  Monongahela  and  had  finally  desisted 
in  the  belief  that  he  was  invulnerable. 

To  friends,  family,  church,  education  and  stran 
gers  our  Farmer  was  open-handed  beyond  most  men 
of  his  time.  His  manager  had  orders  to  fill  a  corn- 
house  every  year  for  the  sole  use  of  the  poor  in 
the  neighborhood  and  this  saved  numbers  of  poor 
women  and  children  from  extreme  want.  He  also 
allowed  the  honest  poor  to  make  use  of  his  fishing 
stations,  furnishing  them  with  all  necessary  appa- 


298    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

ratus  for  taking  herring,  and  if  they  were  unequal 
to  the  task  of  hauling  the  seine,  assistance  was  ren 
dered  them  by  the  General's  servants. 

To  Lund  Washington  he  wrote  from  the  camp  at 
Cambridge :  "Let  the  hospitality  of  the  house,  with 
respect  to  the  poor,  be  kept  up.  Let  no  one  go 
hungry  away.  If  any  of  this  kind  of  people  should 
be  in  want  of  corn,  supply  their  necessaries,  pro 
vided  that  it  does  not  encourage  them  to  idleness; 
and  I  have  no  objection  to  you  giving  my  money 
in  charity  to  the  amount  of  forty  or  fifty  pounds  a 
year,  when  you  think  it  well  bestowed.  What  I 
mean  by  having  no  objection  is,  that  it  is  my  desire 
it  should  be  done.  You  are  to  consider  that  neither 
myself  nor  wife  is  now  in  the  way  to  do  these  good 
offices." 

His  relations  with  his  own  kindred  were  patri 
archal  in  character.  His  care  of  Mrs.  Washing 
ton's  children  and  grandchildren  has  already  been 
described.  He  gave  a  phaeton  and  money  to  the 
extent  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  to  his 
mother  and  did  not  claim  possession  of  some  of  the 
land  left  him  by  his  father's  will.  To  his  sister 
Betty  Lewis  he  gave  a  mule  and  many  other  pres 
ents,  as  well  as  employment  to  several  of  her  sons. 


ODDS   AND   ENDS  299 

He  loaned  his  brother  Samuel  (five  times  married) 
considerable  sums,  which  he  forgave  in  his  will, 
spent  "near  five  thousand  dollars"  on  the  education 
of  two  of  his  sons,  and  cared  for  several  years  for  a 
daughter  Harriot,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  she 
had  "no  disposition  .  .  .  to  be  careful  of  her 
cloaths."  To  his  nephew,  Bushrod  Washington,  he 
gave  money  and  helped  him  to  obtain  a  legal  educa 
tion,  and  he  assisted  another  nephew,  George  A. 
Washington,  and  his  widow  and  children,  in  ways 
already  mentioned.  Over  forty  relatives  were  re 
membered  in  his  will,  many  of  them  in  a  most  sub 
stantial  manner. 

In  the  matter  of  eating  and  drinking  Washington 
was  abstemious.  For  breakfast  he  ordinarily  had 
tea  and  Indian  cakes  with  butter  and  perhaps  honey, 
of  which  he  was  very  fond.  His  supper  was  equally 
light,  consisting  of  perhaps  tea  and  toast,  with  wine, 
and  he  usually  retired  promptly  at  nine  o'clock.  Din 
ner  was  the  main  meal  of  the  day  at  Mount  Vernon, 
and  was  served  punctually  at  two  o'clock.  One  such 
meal  is  thus  described  by  a  guest : 

"He  thanked  us,  desired  us  to  be  seated,  and  to 
excuse  him  a  few  moments.  .  .  .  The  President 
came  and  desired  us  to  walk  in  to  dinner  and  di- 


300    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

rected  us  where  to  sit,  (no  grace  was  said).  .  .  . 
The  dinner  was  very  good,  a  small  roasted  pigg, 
boiled  leg  of  lamb,  roasted  fowls,  beef,  peas,  lettice, 
cucumbers,  artichokes,  etc.,  puddings,  tarts,  etc.  etc. 
We  were  desired  to  call  for  what  drink  we  chose. 
He  took  a  glass  of  wine  with  Mrs.  Law  first,  which 
example  was  followed  by  Dr.  Croker  Crakes  and 
Mrs.  Washington,  myself  and  Mrs.  Peters,  Mr. 
Fayette  and  the  young  lady  whose  name  is  Custis. 
When  the  cloth  was  taken  away  the  President  gave 
'all  our  Friends/  " 

The  General  ordinarily  confined  himself  to  a  few 
courses  and  if  offered  anything  very  rich  would 
reply,  "That  is  too  good  for  me."  He  often  drank 
beer  with  the  meal,  with  one  or  two  glasses  of  wine 
and  perhaps  as  many  more  afterward,  often  eating 
nuts,  another  delicacy  with  him,  as  he  sipped  the 
wine. 

He  was,  in  fact,  no  prohibitionist,  but  he  was  a 
strong  believer  in  temperance.  He  and  the  public 
men  of  his  time,  being  aristocrats,  were  wine  drink 
ers  and  few  of  them  were  drunkards.  The  political 
revolution  of  1830,  ushered  in  by  Jackson,  brought 
in  a  different  type — Westerners  who  drank  whisky 
and  brandy,  with  the  result  that  drunkenness  in  pub- 


One  of  Washington's  Tavern  Bills 


ODDS   AND   ENDS  301 

lie  station  was  much  more  common.  Many  of  the 
Virginia  gentlemen  of  Washington's  day  spent  a 
fourth  or  even  a  third  of  their  income  upon  their 
cellars.  He  was  no  exception  to  the  rule,  and  from 
his  papers  we  discover  many  purchases  of  wine.  One 
of  the  last  bills  of  lading  I  have  noticed  among  his 
papers  is  a  bill  for  "Two  pipes  of  fine  old  Lon 
don  particular  Madeira  Wine,"  shipped  to  him  from 
the  island  of  Madeira,  September  20,  1799.  One 
wonders  whether  he  got  to  toast  "All  our  Friends" 
out  of  it  before  he  died. 

His  sideboard  and  table  were  well  equipped  with 
glasses  and  silver  wine  coolers  of  the  most  expen 
sive  construction.  As  in  many  other  matters,  his 
inventive  bent  turned  in  this  direction.  Having  no 
ticed  the  confusion  that  often  arose  from  the  pass 
ing  of  the  bottles  about  the  table  he  designed  when 
President  a  sort  of  silver  caster  capable  of  holding 
four  bottles.  They  were  used  with  great  success 
on  state  occasions  and  were  so  convenient  that  other 
people  adopted  the  invention,  so  that  wine  coasters, 
after  the  Washington  design,  became  a  part  of  the 
furniture  of  every  fashionable  sideboard. 

To  cool  wine,  meat  and  other  articles,  Washing 
ton  early  adopted  the  practice  of  putting  up  ice,  a 


302     GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

thing  then  unusual.  In  January,  1785,  he  prepared 
a  dry  well  under  the  summer  house  and  also  one  in 
his  new  cellar  and  in  due  time  had  both  filled.  June 
fifth  he  "Opened  the  well  in  my  Cellar  in  which  I 
had  laid  up  a  store  of  Ice,  but  there  was  not  the 
smallest  particle  remaining. — I  then  opened  the 
other  Repository  (call  the  dry  Well)  in  which  I 
found  a  large  store."  Later  he  erected  an  ice  house 
to  the  eastward  of  the  flower  garden. 

His  experience  with  the  cellar  well  was  hardly  less 
successful  than  that  of  his  friend,  James  Madison, 
on  a  like  occasion.  Madison  had  an  ice  house  filled 
with  ice,  and  a  skeptical  overseer  wagered  a  turkey 
against  a  mint  julep  that  by  the  fourth  of  July  the 
ice  would  all  have  disappeared.  The  day  came,  they 
opened  the  house,  and  behold  there  was  enough  ice 
for  exactly  one  julep !  Truly  a  sad  situation  when 
there  were  two  Virginia  gentlemen. 

Mention  of  Madison  in  this  connection  calls  to 
mind  the  popular  notion  that  it  was  his  wife  Dolly 
who  invented  ice-cream.  I  believe  that  her  biog 
raphers  claim  for  her  the  credit  of  the  discovery. 
The  role  of  the  iconoclast  is  a  thankless  one  and  I 
confess  to  a  liking  for  Dolly,  but  I  have  discovered 
in  Washington's  cash  memorandum  book  under  date 


ODDS    AND    ENDS  303 

of  May  17,  1784,  the  entry :  "By  a  Cream  Machine 
for  Ice,"  £1.13.4 — that  is  an  ice-cream  freezer.  The 
immortal  Dolly  was  then  not  quite  twelve  years  old. 

Washington  seems  to  have  owned  three  coaches. 
The  first  he  ordered  in  London  in  1758  in  prepara 
tion  for  his  marriage.  It  was  to  be  fashionable, 
genteel  and  of  seasoned  wood;  the  body  preferably 
green,  with  a  light  gilding  on  the  mouldings,  with 
other  suitable  ornaments  including  the  Washington 
arms.  It  was  sent  with  high  recommendations,  but 
proved  to  be  of  badly  seasoned  material,  so  that  the 
panels  shrunk  and  slipped  out  of  the  mouldings 
within  two  months  and  split  from  end  to  end,  much 
to  his  disgust.  Such  a  chariot  was  driven  not  with 
lines  from  a  driver's  box,  but  by  liveried  postillions 
riding  on  horseback,  one  horseman  to  each  span. 

The  second  coach  he  had  made  in  Philadelphia  in 
1780  at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  and  ten  pounds  in 
specie.  It  was  decidedly  better  built. 

The  last  was  a  coach,  called  "the  White  Chariot," 
bought  second  hand  soon  after  he  became  President. 
It  was  built  by  Clarke,  of  Philadelphia,  and  was  a 
fine  vehicle,  with  a  cream-colored  body  and  wheels, 
green  Venetian  blinds  and  the  Washington  arms 
painted  upon  the  doors.  In  this  coach,  drawn  by  six 


304    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

horses,  he  drove  out  in  state  at  Philadelphia  and 
rode  to  and  from  Mount  Vernon,  occasionally  suf 
fering  an  upset  on  the  wretched  roads.  It  was 
strong  and  of  good  workmanship  and  its  maker 
heard  with  pride  that  it  had  made  the  long  southern 
tour  of  1791  without  starting  a  nail  or  a  screw. 
This  coach  was  purchased  at  the  sale  of  the  Gen 
eral's  effects  by  George  Washington  Parke  Custis 
and  later  in  a  curious  manner  fell  into  the  possession 
of  Bishop  Meade,  who  ultimately  made  it  up  into 
walking  sticks,  picture  frames,  snuff  boxes  and  such 
mementoes. 

At  Mount  Vernon  to-day  the  visitor  is  shown  a 
coach  which  the  official  Handbook  states  is  vouched 
for  as  the  original  "White  Chariot."  In  reality  it 
seems  to  be  the  coach  once  owned  by  the  Powell 
family  of  Philadelphia.  It  is  said  to  have  been  built 
by  the  same  maker  and  on  the  same  lines,  and  Wash 
ington  may  have  ridden  in  it,  but  it  never  belonged 
to  him. 

Most  people  think  of  Washington  as  a  marble 
statue  on  a  pedestal  rather  than  as  a  being  of  flesh 
and  blood  with  human  feelings,  faults  and  virtues. 
He  was  self-contained,  he  was  not  voluble,  he  had  a 
sense  of  personal  dignity,  but  underneath  he  was  not 


ODDS   AND    ENDS  305 

cold.  He  was  really  hot-tempered  and  on  a  few 
well-authenticated  occasions  fell  into  passions  in 
which  he  used  language  that  would  have  blistered 
the  steel  sides  of  a  dreadnaught.  Yet  he  was  kind- 
hearted,  he  pitied  the  weak  and  sorrowful,  and  the 
list  of  his  quiet  benefactions  would  fill  many  pages 
and  cost  him  thousands  of  pounds.  He  was  even 
full  of  sentiment  in  some  matters;  on  more  than  one 
occasion  he  provided  positions  that  enabled  young 
friends  or  relatives  to  marry,  and  I  shrewdly  suspect 
that  he  engineered  matters  so  that  the  beloved  Nelly 
Custis  obtained  a  good  husband  in  the  person  of 
his  nephew,  Lawrence  Lewis.  I  might  say  much 
more  tending  to  show  his  human  qualities,  but  I 
shall  add  only  this :  Having  for  many  years  studied 
his  career  from  every  imaginable  point  of  view,  I 
give  it  as  my  deliberate  opinion  that  perhaps  no  man 
ever  lived  who  was  more  considerate  of  the  rights 
and  feelings  of  others.  Not  even  Lincoln  had  a 
bigger  heart. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  VALE  OF  SUNSET 

WASHINGTON  looked  forward  to  the  end 
of  his  presidency  as  does  "the  weariest  trav 
eler,  who  sees  a  resting-place,  and  is  bending  his 
body  to  lay  thereon."  "Methought  I  heard  him 
say,  'Ay.'  I  am  fairly  out,  and  you  are  fairly  in; 
see  which  of  us  is  the  happiest,"  wrote  John  Adams 
to  his  wife  Abigail.  And  from  Mount  Vernon  Nelly 
Custis  informed  a  friend  that  "grandpapa  is  very 
well  and  much  pleased  with  being  once  more  Farmer 
Washington." 

The  eight  years  of  toilsome  work,  which  had  been 
rendered  all  the  harder  by  much  bitter  criticism,  had 
aged  him  greatly  and  this  helped  to  make  him  doubly 
anxious  to  return  to  the  peace  and  quiet  of  home  for 
his  final  days.  And  yet  he  was  affected  by  his  part 
ing  from  his  friends  and  associates.  A  few  partisan 
enemies  openly  rejoiced  at  his  departure,  but  there 
were  not  wanting  abundant  evidences  of  the  people's 

306 


THE   VALE    OF    SUNSET  307 

reverence  and  love  for  him.  It  is  a  source  of  satis 
faction  to  us  now  that  his  contemporaries  realized 
he  was  one  of  the  great  figures  of  history  and  that 
they  did  not  withhold  the  tribute  of  their  praise  until 
after  his  death.  As  we  turn  the  thousands  of  manu 
scripts  that  make  up  his  papers  we  come  upon  scores 
of  private  letters  and  public  resolutions  in  which,  in 
terms  often  a  bit  stilted  but  none  the  less  sincere,  a 
country's  gratitude  is  laid  at  the  feet  of  its  bene 
factor. 

The  Mount  Vernon  to  which  he  returned  was 
perhaps  in  better  condition  than  was  that  to  which 
he  retired  at  the  end  of  the  Revolution,  for  he  had 
been  able  each  summer  to  give  the  estate  some  per 
sonal  oversight ;  nevertheless  it  was  badly  run  down 
and  there  was  much  to  occupy  his  attention.  In 
April  he  wrote :  "We  are  in  the  midst  of  litter  and 
dirt,  occasioned  by  joiners,  masons,  painters,  and 
upholsterers,  working  in  the  house,  all  parts  of 
which,  as  well  as  the  outbuildings,  are  much  out  of 
repair." 

Anderson  remained  with  him,  but  Washington 
gave  personal  attention  to  many  matters  and  exer 
cised  a  general  oversight  over  everything.  Like 
most  good  farmers  he  "began  his  diurnal  course 


308    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

with  the  sun,"  and  if  his  slaves  and  hirelings 
were  not  in  place  by  that  time  he  sent  "them  mes 
sages  of  sorrow  for  their  indisposition."  Having 
set  the  wheels  of  the  estate  in  motion,  he  break 
fasted.  "This  being  over,  I  mount  my  horse  and 
ride  around  my  farms,  which  employs  me  until  it 
is  time  for  dinner,  at  which  I  rarely  miss  seeing 
strange  faces.  .  .  .  The  usual  time  of  sitting  at 
table,  a  walk,  and  tea  bring  me  within  the  dawn  of 
candlelight;  previous  to  which,  if  not  prevented  by 
company,  I  resolve  that,  as  soon  as  the  glimmering 
taper  supplies  the  place  of  the  great  luminary,  I  will 
retire  to  my  writing  table  and  acknowledge  the  let 
ters  I  have  received,  but  when  the  lights  are  brought 
I  feel  tired  and  disinclined  to  engage  in  this  work, 
conceiving  that  the  next  night  will  do  as  well.  The 
next  night  comes,  and  with  it  the  same  causes  of 
postponement,  and  so  on.  .  ,  .  I  have  not  looked 
into  a  book  since  I  came  home ;  nor  shall  I  be  able 
to  do  it  until  I  have  discharged  my  workmen,  prob 
ably  not  before  the  nights  grow  longer,  when  pos 
sibly  I  may  be  looking  in  Doomsday  Book." 

He  had  his  usual  troubles  with  servants  and 
crops,  with  delinquent  tenants  and  other  debtors; 
he  tried  Booker's  threshing  machine,  experimented 


THE   VALE   OF   SUNSET  309 

with  white  Indian  peas  and  several  varieties  of 
wheat,  including  a  yellow  bearded  kind  that  was 
supposed  to  resist  the  fly,  and  built  two  houses,  or 
rather  a  double  house,  on  property  owned  in  the 
Federal  City — he  avoided  calling  the  place  "Wash 
ington." 

A  picture  of  the  Farmer  out  upon  his  rounds  in 
these  last  days  has  been  left  us  by  his  adopted  son, 
George  Washington  Parke  Custis.  Custis  relates 
that  one  day  when  out  with  a  gun  he  met  on  the 
forest  road  an  elderly  gentleman  on  horseback  who 
inquired  where  he  could  find  the  General.  The  boy 
told  the  stranger,  who  proved  to  be  Colonel  Meade, 
once  of  Washington's  staff,  that  the  General  was 
abroad  on  the  estate  and  pointed  out  what  direction 
to  take  to  come  upon  him.  "You  will  meet,  sir,  with 
an  old  gentleman  riding  alone  in  plain  drab  clothes,  a 
broad-brimmed  white  hat,  a  hickory  switch  in  his 
hand,  and  carrying  an  umbrella  with  a  long  staff, 
which  is  attached  to  his  saddle-bow — that  person, 
sir,  is  General  Washington." 

Those  were  pleasant  rides  the  old  Farmer  took 
in  the  early  morning  sunshine,  with  the  birds  sing 
ing  about  him,  the  dirt  lanes  soft  under  his  horse's 
feet,  and  in  his  nostrils  the  pure  air  fragrant  with 


310    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  scent  of  pines,  locust  blossoms  or  wild  honey 
suckle.  When  he  grew  thirsty  he  would  pause  for 
a  drink  at  his  favorite  gum  spring,  and  as  he  made 
his  rounds  would  note  the  progress  of  the  miller, 
the  coopers,  the  carpenters,  the  fishermen,  and  the 
hands  in  the  fields,  how  the  corn  was  coming  up  or 
the  wheat  was  ripening,  what  fences  needed  to  be 
renewed  or  gaps  in  hedges  filled,  what  the  increase 
of  his  cattle  would  be,  whether  the  stand  of  clover 
or  buckwheat  was  good  or  not.  He  was  the  owner 
of  all  this  great  estate,  he  was  proud  of  it;  it  was 
his  home,  and  he  was  glad  to  be  back  on  it  once 
more.  For  he  had  long  since  realized  that  there 
are  deeper  and  more  satisfying  pleasures  than  win 
ning  battles  or  enjoying  the  plaudits  of  multitudes. 
An  English  actor  named  John  Bernard  who  hap 
pened  to  be  in  Virginia  in  this  period  has  left  us  a 
delightfully  intimate  picture  of  the  Farmer  on  his 
rounds.  Bernard  had  ridden  out  below  Alexandria 
to  pay  a  visit  and  on  his  return  came  upon  an  over 
turned  chaise  containing  a  man  and  a  woman. 
About  the  same  time  another  horseman  rode  up 
from  the  opposite  direction.  The  two  quickly  ascer 
tained  that  the  man  was  unhurt  and  managed  to 


THE   VALE   OF    SUNSET  311 

restore  the  wife  to  consciousness,  whereupon  she 
began  to  upbraid  her  husband  for  carelessness. 

"The  horse,"  continues  Bernard,  "was  now  on 
his  legs,  but  the  vehicle  was  still  prostrate,  heavy  in 
its  frame  and  laden  with  at  least  half  a  ton  of  lug 
gage.  My  fellow-helper  set  me  an  example  of  ac 
tivity  in  relieving  it  of  internal  weight;  and  when 
all  was  clear  we  grasped  the  wheel  between  us  and 
to  the  peril  of  our  spinal  columns  righted  the  con 
veyance.  The  horse  was  then  put  in  and  we  lent 
a  hand  to  help  up  the  luggage.  All  this  helping, 
hauling  and  lifting  occupied  at  least  half  an  hour 
under  a  meridian  sun,  in  the  middle  of  July,  which 
fairly  boiled  the  perspiration  out  of  our  foreheads." 

After  the  two  Samaritans  had  declined  a  press 
ing  invitation  to  go  to  Alexandria  and  have  a  drop 
of  something,  the  unknown,  a  tall  man  past  middle 
age,  wearing  a  blue  coat  and  buckskin  breeches,  ex 
claimed  impatiently  at  the  heat  and  then  "offered 
very  courteously,"  says  Bernard,  "to  dust  my  coat, 
a  favor  the  return  of  which  enabled  me  to  take  a 
deliberate  survey  of  his  person." 

The  stranger  then  called  Bernard  by  name,  saying 
that  he  had  seen  him  play  in  Philadelphia,  and  asked 


312    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

him  to  accompany  him  to  his  house  and  rest,  at  the 
same  time  pointing  out  a  mansion  on  a  distant  hill. 
Not  till  then  did  Bernard  realize  with  whom  he  was 
speaking. 

"Mt.  Vernon !"  he  exclaimed.  "Have  I  the  honor 
of  addressing  General  Washington?" 

With  a  smile  Washington  extended  his  hand  and 
said :  "An  odd  sort  of  introduction,  Mr.  Bernard ; 
but  I  am  pleased  to  find  that  you  can  play  so  active 
a  part  in  private  and  without  a  prompter." 

Then  they  rode  up  to  the  Mansion  House  and 
had  a  pleasant  chat.* 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  presidency  our 
Farmer  had  told  Oliver  Wolcott  that  he  probably 
would  never  again  go  twenty  miles  from  his  own 
vine  and  fig  tree,  but  the  troubles  with  France  re 
sulted  in  a  quasi-war  and  he  was  once  more  called 
from  retirement  to  head  an  army,  most  of  which 
was  never  raised.  He  accepted  the  appointment 
writh  the  understanding  that  he  was  not  to  be  called 
into  the  field  unless  his  presence  should  be  indis 
pensable,  but  he  found  that  he  must  give  much  of 

*  This  anecdote  is  accepted  by  Mr.  Lodge  in  his  life  of 
Washington,  but  doubt  is  cast  upon  it  by  another  historian. 
All  that  can  be  said  is  that  there  is  nothing  to  disprove  it  and 
that  it  is  not  inherently  improbable. 


THE   VALE    OF    SUNSET  313 

his  time  to  the  matter  and  be  often  from  home, 
while  a  quarrel  between  his  friends  Knox  and  Ham 
ilton  over  second  place  joined  with  Republican  hos 
tility  to  war  measures  to  add  a  touch  of  bitterness 
to  the  work.  Happily  war  was  avoided  and,  though 
an  adjustment  of  the  international  difficulties  was 
not  reached  until  1800,  Washington  was  able  to 
spend  most  of  the  last  months  of  his  life  at  Mount 
Vernon  comparatively  undisturbed. 

Yet  things  were  not  as  once  they  were.  Mrs. 
Washington  had  aged  greatly  and  was  now  a  semi- 
invalid  often  confined  to  her  bed.  The  Farmer 
himself  came  of  short-lived  stock  and  realized  that 
his  pilgrimage  would  not  be  greatly  prolonged. 
Twice  during  the  year  he  was  seriously  ill,  and  in 
September  was  laid  up  for  more  than  a  week.  His 
brother  Charles  died  and  in  acknowledging  the  sad 
news  he  wrote : 

"I  was  the  first,  and  am,  now,  the  last  of  my 
father's  children  by  the  second  marriage,  who  re 
main. 

"When  I  shall  be  called  upon  to  follow  them  is 
known  only  to  the  Giver  of  Life.  When  the  sum 
mons  comes,  I  shall  endeavor  to  obey  it  with  good 
grace." 


314    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

And  yet  there  were  gleams  of  joy  and  gladness. 
"About  candlelight"  on  his  birthday  in  1799  Nelly 
Custis  and  his  nephew,  Lawrence  Lewis,  were 
wedded.  The  bride  wished  him  to  wear  his  gor 
geous  new  uniform,  but  when  he  came  down  to  give 
her  away  he  wore  the  old  Continental  buff  and  blue 
and  no  doubt  all  loved  him  better  so.  Often  there 
after  the  pair  were  at  Mount  Vernon  and  there  on 
November  twenty-seventh  a  little  daughter  came  as 
the  first  pledge  of  their  affection.  As  always  there 
was  much  company.  In  August  came  a  gallant  kins 
man  from  South  Carolina,  once  Colonel  but  now 
General  William  Washington  of  Cowpens  fame,  and 
for  three  days  the  house  was  filled  with  guests  and 
there  was  feasting  and  visiting.  November  fifteenth 
Washington  "Rode  to  visit  Mr.  now  Lord  Fair 
fax,'*  who  was  back  from  England  with  his  family, 
and  the  renewal  of  old  friendships  proved  so  agree 
able  that  in  the  next  month  the  families  dined  back 
and  forth  repeatedly. 

Nor  did  the  Farmer  cease  to  labor  or  to  lay  plans 
for  the  future.  He  entered  into  negotiations  for 
the  purchase  of  more  land  to  round  out  Mount 
Vernon  and  surveyed  some  tracts  that  he  owned. 


THE   VALE   OF    SUNSET  315 

On  the  tenth  of  December  he  inclosed  with  a  letter 
to  Anderson  a  long  set  of  "Instructions  for  my 
manager'*  which  were  to  be  "most  strictly  and  point 
edly  attended  to  and  executed."  He  had  rented  one 
of  the  farms  to  Lawrence  Lewis,  also  the  mill  and 
distillery,  and  was  desirous  of  renting  the  fishery 
in  order  to  have  less  work  and  fewer  hands  to  attend 
to ;  in  fact,  "an  entire  new  scene"  was  to  be  enacted. 
The  instructions  were  exceedingly  voluminous,  con 
sisting  of  thirty  closely  written  folio  pages,  and  they 
contain  plans  for  the  rotation  of  crops  for  several 
years,  as  well  as  specific  directions  regarding  fenc 
ing,  pasturage,  composts,  feeding  stock,  and  a  great 
variety  of  other  subjects.  In  them  one  can  find  our 
Farmer's  final  opinions  on  certain  phases  of  agri 
culture.  To  draw  them  up  must  have  cost  him  days 
of  hard  labor  and  that  he  found  the  task  wearing  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  two  places  he  uses  the 
dates  1782  and  1783  when  he  obviously  meant  1802 
and  1803. 

There  was  no  hunting  now  nor  any  of  those  other 
active  outdoor  sports  in  which  he  had  once  delighted 
and  excelled,  while  "Alas !  our  dancing  days  are  no 
more."  Happily  he  was  able  to  ride  and  labor  to 


316    GEORGE   WASHINGTON— FARMER 

the  last,  yet  more  and  more  of  his  time  had  to  be 
spent  quietly,  much  of  it,  we  may  well  believe,  upon 
the  splendid  broad  veranda  of  his  home. 

Unimaginative  and  unromantic  though  he  was, 
what  visions  must  sometimes  have  swept  through 
the  brain  of  that  simple  farmer  as  he  gazed  down 
upon  the  broad  shining  river  or  beyond  at  the  clus 
tered  Maryland  hills  glorified  by  the  descending 
YVJ  sun.  Perchance  in  those  visions  he  saw  a  youthful 
envoy  braving  hundreds  of  miles  of  savage  wilder 
ness  on  an  errand  from  which  the  boldest  might 
have  shrunk  without  disgrace.  Then  with  a  hand 
ful  of  men  in  forest  green  it  is  given  to  that  youth 
to  put  a  Continent  in  hazard  and  to  strike  on  the 
slopes  of  Laurel  Hill  the  first  blow  in  a  conflict  that 
is  fought  out  upon  the  plains  of  Germany,  in  far 
away  Bengal  and  on  most  of  the  Seven  Seas.  For 
an  instant  there  rises  the  delirium  of  that  fateful 
day  with  Braddock  beside  the  ford  of  the  Monon- 
gahela  when 

"Down  the  long  trail  from  the  Fort  to  the  ford, 
Naked  and  streaked,  plunge  a  moccasined  horde : 
Huron  and  Wyandot,  hot  for  the  bout; 
Shawnee  and  Ottawa,  barring  him  out. 


THE   VALE    OF    SUNSET  317 

"  'Twixt  the  pit  and  the  crest,  'twixt  the  rocks  and 

the  grass, 
Where  the  bush  hides  the  foe  and  the  foe  holds  the 

pass, 

Beaujeu  and  Pontiac,  striving  amain; 
Huron  and  Wyandot,  jeering  the  slain." 

The  years  pass  and  the  same  figure  grown  older 
and  more  sedate  is  taking  command  of  an  army  of 
peasantry  at  war  with  their  King.  Dorchester 
Heights,  Brooklyn,  Fort  Washington,  Trenton, 
Princeton,  Brandywine,  Valley  Forge,  Monmouth, 
Morristown,  the  sun  of  Yorktown;  Green,  Gates, 
Arnold,  Morgan,  Lee,  Lafayette,  Howe,  Clinton, 
Cornwallis — what  memories !  Lastly,  a  Cincinnatus 
grown  bent  and  gray  in  service  leaves  his  farm  to 
head  his  country's  civil  affairs  and  give  confidence 
and  stability  to  an  infant  government  by  his  wisdom 
and  character. 

Here,  with  bared  heads,  let  us  take  leave  of  him 
— a  farmer,  but  "the  greatest  of  good  men  and  the 
best  of  great  men." 

THE   END 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  Abigail,  letter  of  husband  to  about  Washington's  re 
tirement,  306. 

Adams,  John :  believes  Washington  was  made  by  marriage 
with  Custis  money,  16;  on  Washington's  retirement, 
306. 

Ague,  prevalence  of  along  the  Potomac,  65. 

Alfalfa,  see  "Lucerne." 

Alton,  John,  a  servant  of  Washington's,  170,  174,  175. 

Anderson,  James:  manager  of  Mount  Vernon,  181,  182;  sends 
list  of  the  increase  of  slaves,  194 ;  mentioned  by  Parkin 
son,  276;  remains  with  Washington,  307;  final  instruc 
tions  to,  315. 

Anna,  brings  indentured  servants  from  Ireland,  167. 

Annals  of  Agriculture:  used  by  Washington,  71,  72;  nature 
of,  74;  plan  of  drill  published  in,  107;  Washington  be 
gins  to  read,  116;  plan  of  barn  in,  117;  threshing  ma 
chine  described  in,  126. 

A  Practical  Treatise  of  Husbandry:  used  by  Washington, 
71 ;  its  author,  73. 

Barrel  plough:  Washington  makes  one,  107;  operation  of, 
108-110. 

Bartram,  John,  Washington  obtains  plants  from,  159. 

Bassett,  Fanny,  matrimonial  adventures  of,  177,  180. 

Bater,  Philip,  Washington  agrees  to  let  him  get  drunk  on  cer 
tain  days,  169. 

Bath  (Berkeley  Springs):  Washington's  land  at,  28;  Patty 
Custis  taken  to,  223. 

Bear,  one  chased  by  the  hounds,  257. 

Belvoir,  fox  hunting  dinners  at,  258. 

Bernard,  John,  peculiar  meeting  of  with  Washington,  310-312. 

Bishop,  Sally:  Custis'  story  of,  171-173;  marries  Thomas 
Green,  173 ;  later  history  of,  174. 

Bishop,  Thomas,  history  of,  170-173. 

Bixby,  Thomas  K.,  owns  the  Lear  papers,  86. 

"Blueskin,"  one  of  Washington's  war  horses,  132,  133. 

321 


322  INDEX 

Board  of  Agriculture :  Washington  elected  honorary  member 

of,  84;  he  is  influenced  by  example  of,  128. 
Booker,  William:    makes  threshing  machine  for  Washington, 

126,  127;  mentioned,  308. 

Boston  Athenaeum,  buys  Washington  relics,  86. 
Boston,  British  frigate,  Washington  sells  bull  to,  144. 
"Botanical  Garden" :    used   for  experimental  purposes,   106 ; 

location  of,  161. 

Boucher,  Jonathan,  teaches  John  Parke  Custis,  225. 
Bowen,  Cavan,  indentured  servant,  bought,  167. 
Bowling  Green:  laid  out  by  Washington,  154;  mentioned,  161. 
Box  hedge,  doubtful  history  of,  160,  161. 
Braddock,   Gen.  Edward:    Washington  joins  staff  of,  4,  5; 

Bishop  his  servant,  170;  mentioned,  12,  316. 
Brents,  Washington  purchases,  17. 
Bruff,  Thomas,  amusing  request  for  a  loan,  291-293. 
Bullskin  Plantation,  Washington  patents,  9. 
Burbank,  Luther,  mentioned,  107. 

Burnes,  David,  quizzes  Washington  about  his  marriage,  16. 
Butler, :    a  gardener,  161 ;  dismissed,  183. 

Calvert,  Eleanor :  love  affair  with  John  Parke  Custis,  225 ; 
letter  of  Martha  Washington  to,  226;  for  second  hus 
band  marries  Doctor  Stuart,  231. 

Campbell's  tavern,  Washington  in  card  game  at,  250. 

Campion, ,  brings  "Knight  of  Malta,"  140. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  wheat,  Washington  experiments  with, 
105. 

Carrington,  Mrs.  Edward,  describes  Martha  Washington's 
sewing  activities,  232,  233. 

Carroll,  Charles,  interested  in  Nelly  Custis,  235. 

Carter,  Charles  H.,  returns  a  loan,  293,  294. 

Cary,  freedman,  death  of  at  great  age,  218. 

Cattle :  poor  quality  of,  56,  57 ;  number  lost  in  twenty  months, 
142 ;  Washington's  experiences  with,  143  et  seq. ;  num 
ber  owned  in  1799,  148;  Parkinson's  poor  opinion  of, 
276,  279. 

Chastellux,  Marquis  de:  Washington  describes  to  him  the 
delights  of  his  retirement,  5 ;  letter  of  Washington  to 
about  inland  navigation,  26;  on  Washington's  horse 
manship,  235. 

Chinch  bugs,  a  bad  year  for,  104. 

Chinese  geese,  Gouverneur  Morris  sends  some  to  Washing 
ton,  147, 


INDEX  323 

Chinese  pigs,  a  gift  to  Washington,  147. 

Christian,  Mr.,  dancing  master,  247,  248. 

Cincinnatus :  Washington  did  not  affect  role  of,  6;  picture  of 
the  American  at  Mount  Vernon,  131 ;  mentioned,  317. 

Clifton, ,  fails  to  abide  by  a  bargain  with  Washington,  17. 

Clinton,  George:  in  partnership  with  Washington  in  a  land 
speculation,  26;  sends  young  trees  and  vines  to  Wash 
ington,  155. 

Coaches :  Washington's  experiences  with,  303,  304 ;  mentioned, 
141. 

Compost,  Washington  experiments  with,  92-94. 

"Compound,"  a  jackass,  140. 

Congress,  Washington  recommends  establishment  of  a  board 
of  agriculture  to,  127,  128. 

Conservationist,  Washington  the  first,  129. 

Copy-book,  Washington's,  verses  quoted  from,  5. 

Corn :  some  raised  in  Virginia,  51,  52 ;  chief  food  of  laborers 
and  horses,  53;  Washington's  experience  growing,  69; 
his  opinion  as  to  the  proper  time  for  planting,  105. 

Craik,  Dr.  James:  tours  western  country  with  Washington, 
20  et  seq.,  27  et  seq. ;  physician  to  Mount  Vernon,  195 ; 
fishes  with  Washington,  265 ;  relations  of  Washington 
with,  296,  297. 

Craik,  William,  accompanies  Washington  on  western  trip  of 
1784,  28. 

Crawford,  Captain  William :  Washington's  western  agent,  19 ; 
descends  the  Ohio  with  Washington,  20;  locates  lands 
for  Washington,  22;  trouble  of  with  squatters,  23; 
burnt  at  stake,  23;  buys  Great  Meadows  for  Washing 
ton,  29. 

Cross  Purposes,  Washington  sees  performance  of,  245. 

Crow,  :  overseer,  183;  not  to  be  trusted  with  punishing 

slaves,  203. 

Cupid,  near  death  of  pleurisy,  196. 

Custis  children:  Washington  guardian  of,  14,  15;  his  ac 
counts  with  the  estate  of,  81. 

Custis,  Daniel  Parke,  first  husband  of  Martha  Washington, 
12,  220. 

Custis,  Elizabeth,  frequent  visitor  at  Mount  Vernon,  231. 

Custis,  George  Washington  Parke:  sees  Washington  fall 
from  a  horse,  133 ;  story  of  Sally  Bishop,  171 ;  adopted, 
175 ;  biography  of,  227-229 ;  spoiled  by  his  grandmother, 
236;  says  "Magnolia"  ran  in  a  race,  252;  account  of 
French  hounds,  259  et  seq. ;  slays  a  stag,  268 ;  story  of 


324  INDEX 

Custis,  George  Washington  Parke — Continued 

a  black  fox,  262 ;  in  error  as  to  Washington's  last  hunt, 
264;  leaves  word  picture  of  Washington  out  on  his 
rounds,  309. 

Custis,  John  Parke:  biography  of,  225,  226;  member  of 
dancing  class,  248;  fox  hunting  with  Washington,  256; 
deer  hunting  at  Mason's,  257. 

Custis,  Martha  (Patty):  hairpin  of  mended,  15;  taken  to 
Bath  for  her  health,  28 ;  biography  of,  222-225 ;  member 
of  dancing  class,  248. 

Custis,  Martha,  a  frequent  visitor  at  Mount  Vernon,  231. 

Custis,  Nelly :  builds  "Woodlawn,"  63 ;  adopted  by  Washing 
ton,  175 ;  is  given  Dogue  Run  Farm,  227 ;  rebuked  by 
grandmother,  235 ;  compelled  to  practise  music,  236 ; 
Washington  dances  with,  249;  mentioned,  300;  secures 
a  good  husband,  305;  says  Washington  is  pleased  with 
being  once  more  a  farmer,  306;  marriage  of,  314. 

Cyrus,  to  be  made  a  waiting  man,  210. 

Dandridge,  Martha,  see  "Martha  Washington"  219. 

Darrell,  — — :  Washington  buys  land  from,  9;  mentioned,  17. 

Davenport, ,  dies  and  leaves  family  in  distress,  187,  188. 

Davis,  Betty,  a  lazy  impudent  huzzy,  199,  200. 

Davis,  Tom,  Mount  Vernon  hunter,  267. 

Davy:  colored  overseer  of  Muddy  Hole  Farm,  183;  sus 
pected  of  stealing  lambs,  206. 

Deer:  Washington's  tame  animals,  131,  267;  deer  seen  on 
Ohio,  253;  deer  hunt  at  George  Mason's,  257,  258; 
Custis  shoots  a  buck,  268,  269. 

Dismal  Swamp  Company,  Washington's  interest  in,  19,  33. 

Dogs,  kill  sheep,  55,  142,  143.    See  also  "Hounds." 

Dogue  Run,  used  as  a  mill  stream,  97. 

Dogue  Run  Farm :  described,  62,  63 ;  rotation  plans  for,  120 ; 
sixteen-sided  barn  built  upon,  124;  excellent  threshing 
floor  of  this  barn,  125 ;  rented  to  Lawrence  Lewis,  127 ; 
conjuring  negroes  at,  213;  given  to  Lawrence  Lewis 
and  his  wife,  227 ;  financial  return  from  in  1798,  287. 

Dower  negroes:  belong  to  Custis  estate,  14;  number  of  in 
1799,  218. 

Drill,  see  "Barrel  Plough." 

Duhamel  du  Monceau,  Henri  Louis,  his  treatise  on  hus 
bandry  abstracted  by  Washington,  71,  73,  74. 

Dunmore,  Lord,  issues  a  land  patent  to  Washington,  25. 

Dutch  fan,  one  owned  by  Washington  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  12& 


INDEX  325 

Eastern  Shore  oats,  wild  onions  picked  out  of,  111. 
Eastern  Shore  peas,  experiment  with,  105. 
Evans,  Joshua,  puts  iron  ring  on  Patty  Custis,  224. 
Everett,  Edward,  buys  the  Pearce  papers,  86. 

Fairfax,  Anne:  wife  of  Lawrence  Washington,  10;  marries 
George  Lee  and  sells  her  life  interest  in  Mount  Vernon 
to  George  Washington,  11. 

Fairfax,  Lord  Thomas :  employs  George  Washington  as  a 
surveyor,  9;  vast  land  holdings  of,  38;  fondness  of  fox 
hunting,  255 ;  hunts  with  Washington,  256. 

Fairfax,  Sir  William,  father  of  wife  of  Lawrence  Washing 
ton,  11. 

Farmer's  Compleat  Guide:  used  by  Washington,  71;  ab 
stracts  from,  72. 

Federal  Gazette,  describes  theatrical  performance  witnessed 
by  Washington,  246. 

Ferry,  bought  of  Posey,  17. 

Ferry  Farm,  bought  by  Washington,  17,  295. 

Fertilizer:  experiments  with  marl,  95,  99,  105;  with  mud, 
102-104;  experiment  fertilizing  oats,  112;  Noah  Web 
ster's  advanced  ideas  regarding,  118,  119;  Washington 
wants  a  manager  who  can  convert  everything  he 
touches  into  manure,  119;  see  also  "Compost"  and 
"Rotation  of  Crops." 

Fishery:  bought  of  Posey,  17;  description  of,  65,  66;  returns 
from  in  1798,  287. 

Fitch,  John,  visits  Washington  to  interest  him  in  steam  navi 
gation,  240. 

Fitzpatrick,  John  C,  on  handwriting  of  the  digest  from  the 
Compleat  Guide,  72. 

Florida  Blanca,  helps  Washington  obtain  a  jackass,  137,  138. 

Flour:  Washington's  classification  of,  98;  excellent  quality 
of,  98. 

Forbes,  Mrs.,  Washington's  inquiries  about,  189,  190. 

Ford,  Paul  Leicester:  opinion  of  remedies  tried  on  Patty 
Custis,  223;  on  Washington's  success  as  a  farmer,  287. 

Fox  hunting:  account  of  Washington's  experiences  at,  255- 
265 ;  mentioned,  100. 

Franklin,  Benjamin:  gives  Washington  a  cane,  87;  Washing 
ton  inspects  mangle  belonging  to,  113. 

Frederick  the  Great,  mythical  story  of  his  sending  a  sword  to 
Washington,  86. 

French,  Daniel,  breaks  contract  for  sale  of  corn,  79,  80. 


326  INDEX 

French,  Mrs.  Daniel,  Washington  hires  slaves  from,  217. 
French,  Elizabeth,  member  of  dancing  class,  248. 
Frestel,    Monsieur,    accompanies    George    W.    Lafayette    to 
Mount  Vernon,  242. 

Garden:   doubtful  history  of  part  of  the  flower  garden,  160; 

the  vegetable  garden,  161. 
Gentleman  Farmer,  used  by  Washington,  71. 
George  Barnwell,  Washington  sees  tragedy  of  acted,  244. 
George,  Prince,  compared  with  Washington  by  Thackeray,  88. 
George  III,  contributes  to  Annals  of  Agriculture  under  pen 

name  of  "Ralph  Robinson,"  74. 
George  Town  oats,  sown,  112. 
Golden  pheasants,  Washington  astonished  by,  148. 
Gough,  :    gives  Washington  a  bull  calf,  144;  Parkinson 

thinks  it  a  poor  animal,  276. 

Graham,  Mrs.  Macaulay,  visits  Mount  Vernon,  240. 
Great  Kanawha :    Washington  visits,  21 ;  land  of  upon,  21 ; 

hunts  buffaloes  near,  254,  255. 
Great  Meadows,  owned  by  Washington,  29. 
Greer,  Thomas :   marries  Sally  Bishop,  173 ;  his  laziness,  185 ; 

mentioned,  183. 
Grenville,  Lord,   issues  special  permit  for  sending  seeds  to 

Washington,  117. 

Guinea  swine,  some  owned  by  Washington,  147. 
"Gunner,"  a  hunting  dog,  267. 
Gunston  Hall,  fox  hunting  dinners  at,  258. 

Hamlet,  Washington  sees  performance  of,  245. 

Haw  has :  constructed  at  ends  of  Mansion  House,  154 ;  men 
tioned,  156. 

Hedgerows,  lines  of  still  visible,  64. 

Hedges:  traces  of  still  discernible,  64,  162;  history  of,  162, 
163 ;  see  also  "Box  hedge" 

Henley,  Frances  Dandridge,  marries  Tobias  Lear,  177. 

Hessian  fly:  Washington  experiments  to  protect  his  wheat 
from,  95 ;  plays  into  hands  of  by  early  sowing,  106. 

Hippopotamus,  dredge  used  on  Delaware  River,  103. 

Hogs:  described  by  Parkinson,  57,  58;  Washington's,  131, 
145-147;  large  stock  of  in  1798,  148. 

Home, ,  his  book  on  farming  digested  by  Washington,  71. 

Horse-Hoeing  Husbandry:  used  by  Washington,  71;  an 
epoch-making  work,  73. 


INDEX      m  327 

Horses :  in  Virginia,  53,  54 ;  American  described  by  Parkinson, 
54,  55 ;  Washington's  stallions,  131 ;  brood  mares  bought 
by  him,  132 ;  his  war  horses,  132 ;  thrown  from  a  Narra- 
gansett,  133;  his  worn-out  animals,  134;  accidents  to, 
134;  his  skill  as  a  trainer  of  described  by  De  Chastel- 
lux,  134,  135 ;  losses  of  in  twenty  months,  142 ;  number 
of  in  1799,  148. 

Horticulture,  Washington's  activities  in,  149  et  seq. 

Hounds :  Washington  builds  up  a  pack  of,  258  et  seq. ;  names 
of  some  of  them,  259;  the  French  hounds,  259  et  seq. 

Humphreys,  Colonel :  at  Mount  Vernon,  171 ;  Smith  fears  he 
will  write  a  poem,  173;  poem  of  about  Washington's 
slaves  quoted,  211. 

Hunt,  Gaillard,  on  Washington  manuscripts  in  the  Library  of 
Congress,  87. 

Ice  house,  Washington's,  301,  302. 

Indentured  servants:  classes  of,  165;  Washington's  dealings 
with,  166-168. 

Jack,  Mount  Vernon  fisherman,  267. 

Jackasses:  Washington's,  137  et  seq.,  148;  stud  fees  of  in 
1798,  287. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  ushers  in  an  era  of  whisky  drinkers,  300. 

Jefferson,  Thomas :  explains  why  land  is  misused,  53 ;  agricul 
tural  correspondence  with  Washington,  83;  carries 
bundle  of  pecan  trees  to  Alexandria  for  Washington, 
159;  opposed  to  slavery,  215. 

Johnson,  John,  brings  nostrum  for  fits,  224. 

Johnston,  George,  sells  land  to  Washington,  9. 

"Jolly,"  a  horse,  gets  leg  broken,  134. 

Jones, ,  Washington  visits  farm  of,  113. 

Knight,  Humphrey,  manages  Mount  Vernon,  178. 

"Knight  of  Malta,"  a  jackass,  his  history,  140,  141. 

Knox,  Thomas,  one  of  Washington's  English  agents,  45,  46. 

"Lady,"  has  four  puppies,  259. 

Lafayette,  George  W.,  stay  of  at  Mount  Vernon,  241,  242,  300. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de:  visits  Washington,  27;  Washington's 
letter  to  regarding  "Royal  Gift,"  138;  sends  Washing 
ton  a  jackass  and  two  jennets,  140;  last  visit  to  Wash 
ington,  240 ;  sends  Washington  some  hounds,  259. 


328  INDEX 

Lame  Peter,  taught  to  knit,  193. 

Laurie,  Dr.  James,  comes  to  Mount  Vernon  drunk,  195. 

Lear,  Lincoln,  Washington's  interest  in,  175-177. 

Lear,  Tobias :  correspondence  of  with  Washington  published, 
86;  biography  of,  175-177;  marries  widow  of  George  A. 
Washington,  177,  180;  writes  directions  about  Billy  Lee, 
208;  Washington  explains  to  him  his  desire  for  selling 
western  lands,  213 ;  directed  to  get  slaves  out  of  Penn 
sylvania,  216 ;  letter  of  Washington  to,  242 ;  Parkinson's 
conversation  with,  279;  gives  Parkinson  money,  280. 

Lee,  General  Charles :  story  of  Washington's  loans  to,  81,  82 ; 
mentioned,  317. 

Lee,  George,  marries  widow  of  Lawrence  Washington,  11. 

Lee,  Henry :  sends  Washington  cuttings  of  the  tree  box,  155 ; 
they  show  little  signs  of  growing,  157. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  Jr.,  adminstrator  de  bonis  non  of  Washing 
ton's  estate,  35. 

Lee,  William  (Billy)  :  accompanies  Washington  to  the  Ohio, 
20;  breeches  bought  for,  82;  helps  get  Colonel  Smith 
out  of  a  scrape,  172-174;  val  de  chambre,  193;  history 
of,  206-209;  freed,  218;  acts  as  huntsman,  260,  261. 

"Leonidas,"  a  stallion,  131. 

Lewis,  Betty:  visit  of  Washington  to,  112;  sends  brother  some 
filberts,  155;  Washington  gives  her  a  mule,  298;  men 
tioned,  293. 

Lewis,  Howell,  manages  Mount  Vernon,  180. 

Lewis,  Lawrence :  builds  "Woodlawn,"  63 ;  rents  Dogue  Run 
Farm,  127,  315 ;  with  uncle  on  a  ride,  133 ;  Washington 
expresses  wish  to  that  Virginia  would  abolish  slavery, 
215;  helps  Washington  entertain  guests,  243,  244;  pos 
sible  part  of  Washington  in  furthering  love  affair  of, 
305  ;  marriage  of,  314. 

Lewis,  Nelly  Custis,  see  "Nelly  Custis." 

Lewis,  Robert:  manages  Mount  Vernon,  180;  describes  tear 
ful  scenes  on  departure  of  Martha  Washington,  237. 

Library  of  Congress,  Washington  papers  in,  5,  85,  87,  90. 

Little  Miami  River,  history  of  Washington's  lands  upon, 
34-36. 

Long  Island  Historical  Society,  Pearce-Washington  papers 
in,  86. 

Lossing,  Benson  J.,  visit  of  to  Mount  Vernon,  160. 

Lucerne,  Washington  experiments  with,  91,  92. 


INDEX  329 

McCracken,  Washington  buys  land  from,  9. 

McKoy, ,  overseer,  183. 

Madison,  Dolly,  did  not  invent  ice  cream,  302,  303. 

Madison,  James:    story  of   his  ice  house,  302;   opposed  to 

slavery,  215. 
"Magnolia":   a  blooded  Arabian  stallion,  131,  132;  in  a  race, 

252. 

Magowan,  Rev.  Mr.,  sells  lottery  tickets,  251. 
Maid  of  the  Mill,  Washington  witnesses  performance  of,  246. 
Mansion   House:    view   from  porch   of,  64;   bequeathed   to 

Bushrod    Washington,    84;    Bishop    starts    for,     172; 

grounds  of  overrun  with  negro  children,  191 ;  hospital 

for  slaves  built  near,  195;  mentioned,  63,  267,  268;  Ber 
nard  visits,  312. 
Mansion  House  Farm :    described,  61 ;  Washington  will  not 

rent,    127;   bequeathed   to   Bushrod   Washington,    178; 

financial  loss  on  in  1798,  287. 
Manure,  see  "Fertilizer" 

Marl,  Washington  experiments  with,  95,  99,  105. 
Mason,  George:  description  of  industry  upon  estate  of,  40-43; 

is  dead,  233 ;  deer  hunting  at,  257,  258. 
Matilda's  Ben,  misbehavior  of,  205. 
Meade,  Colonel,  visits  Washington,  309. 
Mercer,  John  F.,  Washington's  letter  to  about  slavery,  213. 
Meteorological  table,  manager  required  to  keep,  83. 
Michaux,   Andre,  botanist,   brings   pyramidical   cypress    from 

the  king  of  France,  158. 
Military   Company  of   Adventurers,   Washington   a   member 

of,  19. 
Mill:    Washington's  mill  on  the  Youghiogheny,  24,  30;  his 

mill  on  Four  Mile  Run,  97 ;  that  on  Dogue  Run,  97,  98. 

.  1?2-. 
Mississippi  Company,  Washington  interested  in,  10. 

Morgan,  General  Daniel:  talks  over  inland  waterways  ques- 
^tion  with  Washington,  28;  mentioned,  317. 

Morris,  Gouverneur:  sends  Washington  Chinese  pigs  and 
geese,  146,  147;  goes  fishing  with  him,  265. 

Mosquitoes,  prevalence  of  about  Mount  Vernon,  65. 

Mount  Vernon :  Washington  retires  to,  4 ;  given  to  Lawrence 
Washington,  8;  George  Washington  spends  part  of 
youth  at,  9;  early  history  of,  10;  life  interest  of  Anne 
Lee  in  bought  by  Washington,  11;  estate,  16,  17,  20,  32; 
bequeathed  to  Bushrod  Washington,  33;  description  of, 
60  et  seq.;  visit  of  owner  in  1781,  78;  seeds  sent  by 


330  INDEX 

Mount  Vernon — Continued 

Young  reach,  117;  Booker  builds  threshing  machine  at, 
126,  127;  Washington  attempts  to  rent,  127;  Washing 
ton's  care  for  the  lands  of,  129;  number  of  horses  on  in 
1785,  132;  number  of  sheep  on,  135;  resounds  with  jubi 
lant  sounds,  140;  number  of  oxen  on,  144,208;  house  re 
built,  151-153  ;  successive  managers  of,  178-182  ;  employ 
ment  of  white  labor  at,  186;  slaves  seen  at,  191 ;  number 
of  slaves  on  in  1786,  193;  lot  of  slaves  at,  211,  212;  Ed 
mund  Pendleton  at,  221 ;  managed  by  Mrs.  Washington, 
229;  larders  of  kept  well  filled,  230;  Custis  grandchil 
dren  reside  at,  231;  visitors  at,  240-242;  dancing  class 
meets  at,  248;  tea  served  on  portico  of,  252;  fox  hunt 
ing  dinners  at,  258 ;  the  fisherman  of,  267 ;  described  by 
Parkinson,  271  et  seq.,  291 ;  Washington's  estimate  of 
probable  crops  on,  286;  land  of  poor,  288;  value  of  in 
1798,  288 ;  coach  shown  there  to-day  not  Washington's, 
304;  Nelly  Custis  writes  from,  306;  condition  of  on 
Washington's  retirement,  307;  last  months  of  owner's 
life  spent  at,  313;  mentioned,  75,  78,  97,  101,  103,  130, 
208,  244,  291,  312,  314. 

Mount  Vernon  Association,  63. 

Muddy  Hole  Farm  :  described,  62 ;  barrel  plough  used  at,  110; 
its  colored  overseer,  183,  205;  loss  on  in  1798,  287. 

Mules:  Washington  raises,  137  et  seq.;  proposes  to  drive 
them  to  his  carriage,  139;  number  of  in  1799,  148. 

Narragansetts,  two  bought  by  Washington,  132. 

Negroes,  see  "Slaves." 

"Nelson,"  one  of  Washington's  war  horses,  132,  133. 

New  England,  Washington's  observations  of  agriculture  in, 

115. 
Niemcewicz,  Julian :  describes  condition  of  negroes  at  Mount 

Vernon,  197,  198;  opinion  of  Nelly  Custis,  227. 

"Old  Chatham,"  a  worn-out  horse,  134. 

Overdursh, ,  Dutch  redemptioner  bought  with  his  family, 

167. 

Oxen:  used  in  farm  work,  122;  number  of  in  1785,  144;  fat 
tened  and  killed  when  eight  years  old,  145. 

Palatines:    Washington   considers   importing,   24,   30;    men 
tioned,  167. 
Palmer,  Jonathan,  overseer,  contract  of,  185. 


INDEX  331 

Parkinson,  James :  description  of  American  live  stock,  54-58 ; 
considers  renting  one  of  Washington's  farms,  127 ;  on 
Washington's  tone  toward  his  slaves,  202;  his  account 
of  Mount  Vernon  and  Washington's  farming  opera 
tions,  270-280. 

Patterson,  John,  paid  for  carpenter  work,  153. 

Peaches,  Washington  raises,  149. 

Pearce,  William :  letters  of  Washington  to,  86 ;  describes  poor 
condition  of  the  sheep,  137 ;  letter  to  about  Bishop,  171 ; 
manages  Mount  Vernon,  181 ;  overseers  described  to, 
183;  letter  from  about  the  dead  miller's  family,  187; 
direction  to  about  Cyrus,  209. 

Perkins*  Tavern,  Washington  stays  over  Sunday  at,  116. 

Peters,  Richard:  quoted  regarding  wolves,  56;  sends  plan  of 
drill  to  Washington,  107. 

Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture, 
founded,  91. 

Phillipse,  Mary,  Washington's  alleged  infatuation  with,  170. 

Piney  Branch,  turned  into  Dogue  Run,  97. 

Pitt,  William,  a  contributor  to  the  Annals  of  Agriculture,  74. 

Plow:   Washington  invents  one,  94;  buys  a  Rotheran,  99. 

Poelnitz,  Baron,  Washington  inspects  threshing  machine  be 
longing  to,  126. 

Pohick  Church,  Washington  a  vestryman  of,  100. 

Poland  oats,  sown  in  experimental  plot,  112. 

Pond,  Rev.,  "lame  discourses"  of,  116. 

Poole,  William,  letter  of  regarding  want  of  water  in  mill 
stream,  97. 

Posey,  Captain  John:  fox  hunting  with  Washington,  256; 
Washington's  relations  with,  294;  bankrupt  and  in  jail. 
295,  296. 

Posey,  Milly:  member  of  dancing  class,  248;  stays  at  Mount 
Vernon,  295. 

Posey,  St.  Lawrence,  Washington  helps  to  educate,  295. 

Posey  plantation,  bought  by  Washington,  17. 

Potatoes:  method  of  growing  under  straw,  112;  quantity 
raised  in  1788,  113. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  slaves  of  in  Pennsylvania  refuse  to  re 
turn  to  Virginia,  216. 

Redemptioners,  a  class  of  indentured  servants,  166. 

Richey,  Matthew,  Washington  sells  part  of  his  western  lands 
to,  32. 


332  INDEX 

River  Farm :  described,  61,  62 ;  financial  return  from  in  1798, 
287. 

Robert  Gary  &  Company:  English  agents  of  Washington,  46, 
47 ;  Washington  falls  in  debt  to,  48. 

Roberts,  William  M.,  amusing  letter  of,  188. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  transfers  Washington  papers  to  Library 
of  Congress,  85. 

Ross,  Doctor,  Washington  asks  him  to  buy  him  some  white 
servants,  167. 

Rotation  of  crops:  how  practised  in  America,  52;  Washing 
ton's  elaborate  plans  for,  120  et  seq. 

"Royal  Gift,"  a  jackass,  his  history,  138-141. 

"Rules  of  Civility,"  quoted,  202. 

Rumney,  Dr.  William,  physician  to  Mount  Vernon,  195. 

Ryan,  Thomas,  indentured  servant,  bought,  167. 

"Samson,"  a  stallion,  131. 

Seed:  Washington  anxious  to  have  the  best,  110:  counts  num 
ber  of  grains  in  a  pound  of  several  varieties,  111;  ob 
tains  some  from  England,  116,  117. 

Serpentine  drive,  laid  out  by  Washington,  154. 

Shag,  Will,  a  runaway,  203. 

Shaw,  William,  tutor  to  the  Custis  children,  175. 

Sheep :  raising  of  not  much  attempted,  55 ;  breeds  of.  55 ; 
much  troubled  by  wolves  and  dogs,  55,  56;  Washing 
ton's,  135  et  seq.;  number  lost  in  twenty  months,  142; 
he  suspects  an  overseer  of  stealing  lambs,  206;  Parkin 
son's  opinion  of,  278,  279. 

Siberian  wheat,  experiment  with,  105. 

Simpson,  Gilbert,  one  of  Washington's  western  agents,  23,  24, 
29,  30,  31. 

Sinclair,  Sir  John :  Washington  corresponds  with,  83,  91 : 
helps  obtain  seeds  for  Washington,  117;  Washington 
sends  some  American  products  to,  118. 

Sixteen-sided  barn,  mentioned,  62. 

Slaves :  Washington  inherits  from  his  father,  8 ;  some  sent  to 
the  west  to  Simpson's,  23,  25;  steal  fruit,  156;  as  solu 
tion  of  labor  problem,  165 ;  detailed  account  of  Wash 
ington's,  191-218. 

Smith,  Colonel,  adventure  with  Sally  Bishop,  171-174. 

Smith,  Thomas,  Washington's  attorney  in  case  against  the 
squatters,  32. 

Spears,  Thomas,  indentured  servant,  runs  away,  168. 


INDEX  333 

Spots-wood,  Gen.  Alexander,  Washington's  letter  to  apropos 
of  slavery,  214. 

Sprague,  William  B.,  is  given  some  of  the  Washington  pa 
pers,  85. 

Squatters :  on  Washington's  western  land,  22,  23 ;  delegation 
from  meet  Washington  at  Simpson's,  31 ;  dispossessed, 
32. 

Stallions,  list  of  those  kept  by  Washington,  131. 

"Steady,"  a  stallion,  131,  284. 

Stephens,  Richard,  his  laziness,  186. 

Stewart,  Robert,  Washington's  loan  to,  293. 

Stuart,  overseer,  183. 

Sullivan,  Captain,  interpreter  of  directions  regarding  "Royal 
Gift,"  138. 

Swearingen,  Captain  van,  accompanies  Washington  on  mis 
sion  to  squatters,  31. 

Sycamores,  enormous  ones  measured  by  Washington,  22,  255. 

Thackeray,  William  M.,  quoted  regarding  Washington,  87,  88. 

Thomson,  Charles,  notifies  Washington  of  his  election  to  the 
presidency,  240. 

Threshing  machine:  Washington  experiments  with,  126,  127; 
owns  one  at  time  of  death,  128;  Parkinson  says  Gen 
eral  has  two,  275 ;  uses  one  of  Booker's  model,  308. 

Tobacco :  place  of  in  Virginia  agriculture,  42-52 ;  Washing 
ton's  experience  with,  68;  discontinues  growing  of,  69. 

Tom,  sent  to  West  Indies,  204,  216. 

Toner,  J.  M. :  his  transcripts  of  Washington  papers,  79,  86; 
opinion  of  regarding  inspection  of  Washington's  flour 
in  the  West  Indies,  98. 

"Traveler" :   a  stallion,  131 ;  stud  fee  of,  287. 

Triplett,  William,  constructs  outbuildings,  153. 

Tull,  Jethro:  his  book  on  horse-hoeing  abstracted  by  Wash 
ington,  71,  73 ;  some  of  his  ideas,  75 ;  quoted  by  Wash 
ington,  92. 

Turkeys:  Washington  raises,  131,  147;  wild  variety  men 
tioned,  253. 

Union  Farm  :  described,  61,  62 ;  fishery  on,  65  ;  gully  upon,  66; 
new  brick  barn  after  Young's  plans  built  upon,  117; 
financial  return  from  in  1798,  287. 

Virginia,  agriculture  and  life  in,  37-59. 

Virginia  Almanac,  weather  record  kept  by  Washington  in,  80, 


334  INDEX 

Virginia  Gazette.  Washington  advertises  escaped  servants  in, 

167. 

Voilett,  Edward,  agrees  to  avoid  stills,  169. 
"Vulcan,"  raid  of  on  kitchen,  260. 

Waggoner  Jack,  sold  in  West  Indies,  204. 

Walker,  Ann,  daughter  of  John  Alton,  receives  a  bequest 
from  Washington,  174. 

Walpole  Grant,  Washington  interested  in,  10. 

Washington,  Augustine,  bequests  of  to  George,  8. 

Washington,  Augustine,  Jr.,  daughter  of  describes  Martha 
Washington's  activities,  234,  235. 

Washington,  Bushrod:  accompanies  Washington  on  western 
trip,  28;  inherits  Mansion  House  and  papers,  84;  fails 
to  safeguard  papers  properly,  85 ;  educated  by  his  uncle, 
178;  asked  to  make  inquiries  about  Mrs.  Forbes,  189; 
assisted  by  his  uncle,  299. 

Washington,  George  A.:  brings  mahogany  seeds  from  West 
Indies,  157;  widow  of  marries  Tobias  Lear,  177;  man 
ages  Mount  Vernon,  179,  180 ;  course  of  approved,  184 ; 
fox  hunting,  263,  264;  ill  health  of,  297;  aided  by  his 
uncle,  299. 

Washington,  Harriot,  helped  by  her  uncle,  299. 

Washington,  John  A.,  manages  Mount  Vernon,  177,  178. 

Washington,  John  A.,  inherits  books  and  relics  of  Washing 
ton,  85. 

Washington,  John  C,  sells  Washington  papers  to  the  na 
tion,  85. 

Washington,  Lawrence:  inherits  Mount  Vernon,  8;  influence 
of  upon  George,  9;  biography  of,  10;  mentioned,  76. 

Washington,  Lund :  directed  to  set  out  trees  at  end  of  Man 
sion  House,  151 ;  manages  Mount  Vernon  during  the 
Revolution,  179;  Washington's  generous  dealings  with, 
187;  will  inform  owner  of  delinquencies  of  Roberts, 
189;  opinion  of  Washington's  charity,  230,  231;  is  dead, 
233;  fox  hunting  with  Washington,  256,  263;  instruc 
tions  to  concerning  the  poor,  298. 

Washington,  Martha:  marriage  of  Washington  to,  12,  13; 
family  of  by  first  husband,  14;  her  financial  affairs,  14, 
15 ;  remembers  when  there  was  but  one  coach  in  Vir 
ginia,  49;  "broke  out  with  the  Meazles,"  79;  tradition 
concerning  her  authority  over  the  flower  garden,  160 ; 
Bishop  threatens  to  tell  of  Colonel  Smith's  escapade, 
172;  gives  a  quilt  to  her  niece,  177;  on  the  required 


INDEX  335 

work  of  the  sewing  servants,  199;  chapter  about,  219- 
238;  keeps  open  house,  239;  "Vulcan"  steals  one  of  her 
hams,  260;  Parkinson's  mention  of,  274,  279,  280;  her 
husband's  care  of  her  grandchildren,  298 ;  drinks  a  glass 
of  wine,  300. 

Washington,  Mary:  death  of,  33;  son  visits,  112;  son  sends 
money  to,  114,  298. 

Washington,  Samuel,  financial  assistance  received  by  from 
General  Washington,  299. 

Washington,  William:  has  charge  of  "Royal  Gift"  in  South 
Carolina,  139,  140;  visits  Mount  Vernon,  314. 

Washington,  William  A.,  George  Washington  buys  corn  from, 
69,  70. 

Watson,  Elkanah,  anecdote  of  visit  to  Mount  Vernon,  244. 

Weather  record,  kept  by  Washington,  77,  80. 

Webster,  Noah :  says  toast  at  Mount  Vernon  was  "Success  to 
the  mud,"  103;  explains  how  fertility  can  be  obtained 
from  the  air,  118,  119;  visit  of  mentioned,  175,  240. 

Webster,  William,  indentured  servant,  runs  away,  168. 

Western  Lands,  history  of  Washington's,  18-36. 

Wheat:  how  reaped  and  threshed,  51;  Washington  turns  to 
cultivation  of,  69 ;  Washington  rolls  in  spring,  95 ;  his 
sales  of  before  the  Revolution,  96,  97;  grinds  into  flour, 
97;  excellent  quality  of  Washington's  wheat  before  the 
Revolution,  99;  experiments  with  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
and  Siberian,  105 ;  opinion  as  to  proper  time  for  sow 
ing,  106;  acreage  in  1787,  113. 

White,  Alexander,  pays  General  Lee's  debt  to  Washington,  82. 

White  Chariot,  history  of,  303,  304.  ^ 

Whiting,  Anthony :  writes  concerning  worn-out  horses,  133, 
134;  instructed  to  cull  out  the  unthrifty  sheep,  136,  137; 
manager  of  Mount  Vernon,  180. 

"Wilderness" :  Washington  sets  out,  154 ;  many  trees  dead  in, 
156. 

Wine  coasters,  invented  by  Washington,  301. 

Witherspoon,  John,  Washington  describes  his  western  lands 
to,  25. 

"Woodlawn,"  home  of  Nelly  Custis,  63,  227. 

Young,  Arthur:  letters  of  Washington  to  about  his  interest 
in  farming,  1,  2 ;  astonished  that  wolves  and  dogs  hinder 
sheep  raising  in  America,  55 ;  Washington  explains  dif 
ferences  between  American  and  European  agriculture  to, 
58;  describes  his  estate  to,  60  et  seq.,  127;  his  Annals  of 


336  INDEX 

Young,  Arthur — Continued 

Agriculture  used  by  Washington,  71,  74;  Washington's 
correspondence  with,  83,  85,  91 ;  sends  inquiries  regard 
ing  American  agriculture,  84 ;  obtains  seeds  for  Wash 
ington,  116,  117;  sends  plan  for  barn,  117;  Washington 
sends  agricultural  information  to,  118;  Washington  in 
quires  of  regarding  a  threshing  machine,  126;  influence 
of  upon  Washington,  128;  letter  of  Washington  to 
about  his  sheep,  136;  about  his  mules,  141;  mentioned 
by  Parkinson,  277. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

. 


JH23'W 


RdC 


AUG  3  1  1966  9  2 


RECEIVE! 


AUG  2 1'66  -1PM 


QAM 


MAY    319679 


LD  21A-50m-8,'57 
(C8481slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  37716 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


